Is it to spare her a big defeat in Nevada if she went head to head with Trump?
Or what would be the reason to just give up on the chance of getting at least some delegates?
You can only run in either the primary or the caucus (per Nevada GOP rules, only true this year, who knows in 4 years).
At the time Haley had to decide which one she was running in, the list of who was running was still pretty long. You figure you probably can't beat Trump, best you can do is second. However if you jump into the primary and win (in a crowded list) you can say "The people of Nevada have spoken" and use that to gain some momentum. Yes, you win against not-Trump, but you still win. You've got real voting numbers showing that people will vote for you.
The problem is that Nevada has a caucus with only Trump and a primary with only Haley. (And maybe some randos?). That's not exciting for anyone, so we basically just skip it.
Yes, you don't get delegates this way, but you can pick up enough delegates other places. In a world where Trump is unavailable and it's a Desantis v Haley Nevada show down, then this would have been a really stupid decision by Haley. As it actually happened... It's fine. Nevada is a waste and we move on.
Ok so it sounds like he didn’t file for the primary, which they switched to in 2020, and intentionally used the outdated and now meaningless process that the GOP used in 2022 (no punishments ofc), knowing he’d stoke conspiracy theories of “voter suppression” because his name wasn’t on the ballot (again: because he didn’t file for the primary) AND because the caucus results will be disregarded (again: because they are meaningless according to NV state law). And his fans will only care that those things happened, not why they happened.
Article really doesn't explain it, but has this quote:
Trump is not on the ballot because he did not file for the state election. He is expected to easily win the caucuses and claim all of Nevada's 26 delegates
Which implies the caucus decides the winner. Guess that leaves voters kind of fucked.
This is the first time Nevada is experiencing the dual contests. The shift happened after a Democratic-led state Legislature changed the law, eliminating state-run caucuses after the 2020 election. The state Republican Party nevertheless decided to hold a caucus. It has decried the state-run primary, saying that it is a waste of taxpayer money and that it is suspicious of the possibility of voter fraud.
NV State Law now specifies that primaries are how it’s done, and that caucuses are no longer meaningful. How is that ambiguous?
And let’s also be clear about leaving voters “kinda fucked”: that’s on the GOP for intentionally engaging in a legally meaningless process for theatrics.
The Republicans aren’t using the primary vote to award delegates though. They’re continuing to use the caucus for that. This is the fact on the ground, the vote will be what people talk about, and if Haley managed to win, it could help her stay in the news a bit longer.
However, Biden wasn’t on the NH ballot, but still won easily on write in votes. However, because of breaking the Dems rule about primary order, the NH Democratic primary didn’t award any delegates to any of the Democrat candidates.
The party can award the delegates however it wants, remember the about superdelegates that kept Bernie from having a snowball’s chance in hell in the 2016 primaries? This is similar bullshit, except that Haley has even less of a chance than Sanders did.
Nevada state law has no practical way to be relevant to the GOP on this. If they want to use their caucus results instead, then that's what they'll do.
Why? Biden showed that a real politician can win a primary without being on the ballot by winning New Hampshire. Oh, right, Trump isn't a real politician.
The Nevada Republican presidential primary has long been fraught with conflict over the prospect of holding two contests in one week, two days apart, with different outcomes.
In the less populous Nye County, the Republican chair said he personally fielded about 500 phone calls since mail-in ballots started hitting homes the first week of January.
“Due to Joe Biden’s embarrassing defeat to Bernie Sanders in 2020, Nevada Democrats changed the caucus to a primary,” Trump campaign spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.
The party hierarchy traveled to Mar-a-Lago last year, and six GOP leaders were recently indicted on charges related to serving as so-called false Trump electors in the 2020 campaign.
Several 2024 candidates, including former Vice President Mike Pence, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina and Haley, opted to appear on the primary ballot.
Elko County GOP Chair Lee Hoffman said he’s had to educate voters who have called with the mistaken idea that if they don’t participate in the state-run primary, they won’t be able to vote in the general election.
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