Nikki Haley notched her first Republican primary victory on Sunday by snatching all 19 delegates in Washington, D.C.
Haley had campaigned in the nation’s capital Friday night, holding a rally in one of the most Democrat-dominated jurisdictions in the country. Only about 23,000 of the city’s roughly 700,000 residents are registered Republicans, reported CBS News. She won the contest with 62.8% of the vote compared to former President Donald Trump’s 33.3%, though only about 2,000 total votes were cast. For comparison, New Hampshire, with a population about double that of Washington, D.C. had a turnout of over 320,000 for its Republican primary in January.
Yet with an audience of about a hundred people present, Haley quipped, “Who says there’s no Republicans in D.C.? Come on.”
To some observers, Haley’s emphatic win inside the Beltway further proves an impression she has fought hard to downplay: that she is the favorite of the D.C. establishment that supporters of Trump often call “the swamp.”
That was the take of journalist and commentator Glenn Greenwald, who ridiculed Haley’s X post touting her victory in D.C.
“So hilarious and perfect that Nikki Haley is celebrating her only GOP primary win: Washington, DC. She’ll also likely win Northern Virginia (with a big vote from Langley and the Pentagon’s favorite neighborhoods). This is the favorite GOP candidate of corporate media and Dems,” he wrote.
In a follow-up post, Greenwald replied to journalist Marita Graça’s protest that Haley’s win was more significant because “She is the first woman to win a Republican Primary. It is something.”
“Yes, it’s something: something quite revealing. Namely, that the only real support she has is among the large Washington donors, lobbyists, and war advocates who fund her campaign and whose interests she has always represented,” Greenwald said.
Haley put a different spin on the results, arguing that Republicans inside the Beltway have a better sense of what it takes to institute real change in the capital.
“Republicans closest to Washington’s dysfunction know that Donald Trump has brought nothing but chaos and division for the past 8 years. It’s time to start winning again and move our nation forward!” she wrote on X.
Trump, the likely nominee now that the Supreme Court has ruled against individual state efforts to remove him from the ballot, still leads Haley with 247 delegates to her 43 heading into Super Tuesday when 15 states and one territory will hold primaries that will likely decide the race.
The former president’s campaign took to social media to mockingly congratulate Haley on becoming the first woman to win a Republican primary while also pointing out the implications of D.C. insiders favoring her campaign:
“Tonight’s results in Washington D.C. reaffirm the object of President Trump’s campaign — he will drain the swamp and put America first. While Nikki has been soundly rejected throughout the rest of America, she was just crowned Queen of the Swamp by the lobbyists and DC insiders who want to protect the failed status quo. The swamp has claimed their queen.”
