Former President Trump is projected to win the North Dakota GOP caucuses, according to Decision Desk HQ, extending his winning record as he races toward the Republican nomination.
The results are another blow to rival Nikki Haley, who has promised to stay in the race through Super Tuesday despite losing to Trump in the early states and trailing him in the polls. Haley scored her sole victory against Trump on Sunday when she won the Washington, D.C., GOP primary.
Trump easily won North Dakota, which awards 29 GOP delegates toward the national party’s convention later this year.
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum launched a long-shot bid for the White House last year and qualified for the first two Republican debates, but suspended his campaign in December after struggling to climb out of single digits in the polls. He then endorsed Trump, calling the former president a “friend and a partner” to the Peace Garden State.
Trump is still far from the 1,215 delegates he needs to secure the Republican nod, but he’s heading into Super Tuesday with significant polling leads and looks poised to coast to the nomination.
But Trump is also running amid multiple ongoing criminal indictments and civil lawsuits, leaving some observers to wonder whether Haley is sticking in the race in case the former president’s 2024 bid is derailed.
North Dakota’s GOP caucuses are held just a day before Super Tuesday, when more than a dozen states will hold their nominating contests. Hundreds of delegates are on the table March 5.