(WASHINGTON) — Based on analysis of the vote so far, ABC News projects former President Donald Trump will win Thursday’s Republican caucuses in Nevada.
Thursday saw the second of the state’s two presidential nominating contests held this week, though the caucuses were the only race in which candidates could earn delegates to bring them closer to winning the 2024 GOP nomination.
Trump was the last major candidate running in the caucuses and had been expected to sweep all 26 party delegates.
He and little-known pastor Ryan Binkley were the only ones in the running, after Ron DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy, Chris Christie and Doug Burgum all ended their campaigns.
Trump’s remaining notable rival for the Republican nomination, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, did not compete in the caucuses — claiming it was “rigged,” which Nevada Republicans deny.
Instead, Haley ran in the state’s new Republican primary on Tuesday but lost by a huge margin to the quirky option “none of these candidates.”
Because of a party dispute over keeping the caucuses rather than switching to the new primary, no delegates were awarded in the latter contest.
State significance
Nevada is a key swing state in the 2024 election. In 2020, it narrowly went for Biden.
The president, appearing to be looking toward November’s election, blasted Trump while campaigning in Nevada this past weekend.
“Trump and his MAGA friends are dividing us, not uniting us. Dragging us back to the past, not leading us in the future,” Biden said at a get-out-the-vote rally in North Las Vegas.
Trump, for his part, has labeled Biden as the “real threat … But we keep marching forward.”
ABC News’ Lalee Ibssa contributed to this report.
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