Donald Trump, the former president of the United States, easily won the Republican caucuses in Michigan, Missouri, and Idaho, giving him a significant advantage in the contest for his party’s presidential candidacy. On Saturday, Trump easily defeated Nikki Haley, his final opponent and a former UN ambassador, in each of the three states. As we approach next week’s “Super Tuesday,” when voters in 15 US states and one territory select their favorite candidate for each party, the former president has already won every state-nominating race. The state Republican Party of Michigan reports that Trump defeated Haley in each of the 13 districts that participated in the nomination caucuses.
In the western Michigan city of Grand Rapids, more than 1,600 party insiders took part in the caucus, selecting delegates for either Trump or Haley for the party’s national nominating convention in July. With 1,575 votes to just 36 for Haley, Trump received over 98 percent of the total votes cast. The head of the Michigan Republican Party, Pete Hoekstra, described the outcome as a “overwhelming, dominating victory.” Trump is clearly the front-runner in the election after winning in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, the US Virgin Islands, South Carolina, and now Michigan, Missouri, and Idaho. Haley is only able to stay in the race because of the support of donors who are eager to see someone other than the outgoing president.
Michigan Republicans created a hybrid nominating structure for this election cycle that combines a primary and a caucus. With a resounding victory on Tuesday, Trump grabbed 12 of the 16 delegates that were up for grabs. On Saturday, he put all 39 of Michigan’s remaining delegates in jeopardy. Knowing that Trump would win handily, the participants in one of the 13 caucuses chose to save time by asking everyone who supported Haley to stand up. Only twenty-five-year-old Carter Houtman stood up in a room full of 185 voting delegates.
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