Nikki Haley won the Republican primary in Washington, D.C., on Sunday, sealing her first victory in the 2024 primary against front-runner Donald Trump.
Haley, 52, won all 19 contested delegates in the Republican primary in one of the most Democratic areas in the country and was declared the winner by the Associated Press.
There are only 23,000 registered Republicans in D.C.
“Who says there aren’t any Republicans in Washington, D.C.? Come on,” she joked with supporters Friday during a campaign event in the nation’s capital. “We try to touch everyone and talk to everyone as much as we can.”
A spokeswoman for Haley said her victory makes her the first woman in U.S. history to win a Republican presidential primary.
This will also be Trump’s first loss in the 2024 primary, but he is expected to win by a landslide on Super Tuesday this week.
Despite her losses so far, Haley, the only Republican challenger to the former president, has vowed to remain in the race through at least the 15th race on Super Tuesday.
Meanwhile, Trump, 77, seemed unfazed by his first loss.
In a statement Sunday night, he sarcastically congratulated the former South Carolina governor on being named “Queen of the Swamp by lobbyists and D.C. insiders seeking to protect the failed status quo.”
Trump ran unopposed in 2020 and won the last D.C. primary, but he finished third behind Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and former Ohio Gov. John Kasich four years ago. We lost by a large margin.
Haley has repeatedly argued during the campaign that she and Trump are the only Republican who can defeat President Joe Biden in the general election.
However, Mr. Trump repeatedly defeated the Republican Party, causing all other Republican presidential candidates to decline and support Mr. Trump. She recently defeated Haley in the Missouri, Idaho and Michigan caucuses, and is expected to have no trouble becoming the party’s nominee to challenge Biden.
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