The Republican presidential race is down to a one-on-one fight between former President Trump, who won Iowa and New Hampshire this month, and former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley — but the two White House hopefuls won’t directly face each other in Nevada next month.
Nevada is hosting a presidential preference primary on Feb. 6, under a new law calling for a primary system in the state. Early voting for the primary is already underway.
The Nevada GOP, though, is bucking that setup and going forward with its longstanding caucus system.
Two days after the state-run primary, the state party will host its own contest on Feb. 8 — sowing confusion for voters in the state looking to support either of the top two Republican contenders.
The Hill’s Jared Gans and Nick Robertson have more on why Trump and Haley are on separate ballots.
Haley, who came in third in Iowa and second in New Hampshire, opted to have her name on Nevada’s primary ballot, while Trump is taking part in the caucus. The state party’s rules bar candidates from the caucus if they chose the primary.
That means Haley and Trump won’t go head-to-head in Nevada next month, and observers expect Trump has all but clinched the caucus win, while Haley is the only big name on the primary ballot.
Adding further confusion, Nevadans who are registered Republicans can vote in both contests, election officials told the Reno Gazette-Journal.
But Haley won’t be eligible to earn delegates to the Republican National Convention from the state, according to the Nevada GOP, which has decided only the caucuses count when it comes to allocating delegates.
“Your primary vote doesn’t mean anything. It’s your caucus vote,” Trump told supporters in Las Vegas over the weekend.
In the face of questions about whether she has enough momentum to stay in the race toward Super Tuesday in March, Haley’s campaign has insisted they’re in it for the long haul against Trump.
Though Nevada votes next, she’s shifted much of her focus to her home state of South Carolina, which hosts its GOP contest on Feb. 24.
