US Elections 2024: Nikki Haley beats Donald Trump in Washington DC primary

Republican Nikki Haley has notched a major victory against former US president Donald Trump, by winning in the Washington, DC, primary. While the vote count for the GOP primary is ongoing, Haley is projected to "trump" the Republican front-runner, with more than 60 per cent of the votes already in her favour.

Haley dominated the primary with 63per cent of the vote, leaving Trump with 33 per cent. The number of ballots cast by DC Republicans was slightly over 2,000. She won all 19 delegates at stake.

First victory

This is Haley's first victory in the 2024 campaign. This wintemporarily halts Donald Trump's sweep of the GOP voting contests.

However, as per projections, he is expected to pick up several hundred more delegates in this week's Super Tuesday races.

Washington DC

Washington, as per media reports, is a predominantly Democratic jurisdiction. There are only about 23,000 registered Republicans in the city.

Many of these, as per NBC, work in politics or government and are vastly seen as different fromthose in other early states like South Carolina and Iowa

In Washington DC, the GOP primary election is run by the local Republican Party rather than the state and the only polling location is set up at the Madison Hotel. In 2020, during his re-election bid, Trump had won an uncontested DCprimary.

(With inputs from agencies)