In the Michigan Republican presidential primary held on Tuesday, former President Donald Trump secured a decisive victory, further solidifying his lead over his sole remaining rival, Nikki Haley.
Declared the winner by Decision Desk HQ at 9:01 p.m., just after the closing of the last polls, Trump commanded a significant lead with 66.9% of the votes, compared to Haley’s 28.1%, with 28% of the votes tallied.
Trump’s triumph in Michigan adds to his series of victories in previous Republican nominating contests, positioning him strongly as the frontrunner heading into Super Tuesday on March 5, where a substantial 36% of Republican delegates will be up for grabs. Meanwhile, President Joe Biden easily secured victory in the Democratic primary.
When approached for comment, Newsmax reached out to the Trump campaign.
Leading into the primary, Trump maintained a substantial advantage over Haley, with a commanding 56.9 percentage points lead in the FiveThirtyEight polling average (78.7% to 21.8%). This margin closely mirrored his national lead over the former South Carolina governor and U.N. ambassador, which stood at 59.9 points (76.5% to 16.6%).
Before the polls closed, a Haley campaign official, Olivia Perez-Cubas, expressed modest expectations, suggesting that even securing 10% of the vote would indicate a potential appetite within the GOP for an alternative to Trump.
Despite her campaign’s arguments that Trump had a significant head start in campaigning in Michigan compared to Haley’s relatively brief presence in the state, Haley failed to significantly close the gap with Trump. Her closest challenge to Trump in the Republican nominating process was in New Hampshire, where she trailed by 11.1 percentage points. Despite her setbacks, Haley has stated her intent to remain in the race at least through Super Tuesday.
In Michigan, only 16 of the 55 Republican delegates were at stake on Tuesday. The state’s Democratic-controlled government moved up the presidential primary date to comply with the Democratic National Committee’s schedule changes. To adhere to rules set by the Republican National Committee (RNC), Michigan Republicans adopted a hybrid system, awarding 16 delegates on Tuesday and the remaining 39 through a caucus at the state GOP convention on Saturday.
Michigan holds significance as a key battleground state in Trump’s bid for re-election. While Trump won the state by a narrow margin of 10,704 votes against Hillary Clinton in 2016, he faced defeat in 2020, losing to Biden by 154,188 votes.
