Former US President Donald Trump has gained significant momentum in the race for his party's presidential nomination by winning the Republican caucuses in Michigan, Missouri and Idaho.
On Saturday, Trump defeated his last remaining rival, Nikki Haley, a former ambassador to the United Nations, in all three states.
The former president has now won every state nominating contest ahead of next week's “Super Tuesday,” when voters in 15 U.S. states and one territory choose their party's preferred candidate.
In Michigan, Trump defeated Haley in all 13 precincts in which the candidates caucused, according to the state Republican Party.
More than 1,600 party officials attended the caucus in the western Michigan city of Grand Rapids to select delegates for Trump and Haley for the party's national nominating convention in July.
Overall, Trump won with nearly 98 percent support, 1,575 votes to Haley's only 36.
Michigan Republican Party Chairman Pete Hoekstra called it a “resounding and dominant victory.”
Ms. Haley is running out of time to change the course of the Republican nomination race.
Trump is the clear front-runner in the race, having won Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, the U.S. Virgin Islands, South Carolina, and now Michigan, Missouri, and Idaho. , Mr. Haley is being helped by the support of generous donors. A person who replaces the former president.
For this election cycle, the Michigan Republican Party devised a hybrid nomination system that is split into a primary and a caucus.
Trump won a convincing victory in Tuesday's primary, winning 12 of 16 delegates. He had all 39 of Michigan's remaining delegates in contention on Saturday.
At one of the 13 caucuses, participants knew Trump would easily win, so they decided to save time by simply asking Haley supporters to stand. Carter Houtman, 25, was the only one of the 185 voting delegates to stand up.
“I felt a little sad,” Houtman told Reuters in an interview afterward.
Houtman said he would likely vote for Trump in the November general election if he were the nominee, but on Saturday he felt it was important to stick to his beliefs.
“I didn't like how Trump handled things after the last election,” Houtman said.
Trump supporter Dennis Milosh, 87, said the former president's landslide victory on Saturday underscored how his party had transformed from a party aligned with big business to one focused on the working class. Ta.
“Wherever he goes, whatever he does, he pays attention to and reacts to ordinary people,” Milosz said.
Trump and Haley spent Saturday campaigning in North Carolina ahead of next week's primary election.
During a rally in Greensboro, President Trump, who is facing four criminal charges, called himself the victim of a political witch hunt and urged them to come out in droves to send a signal to voters. I called out.
“I stand before you today not only as your past and hopefully future president, but also as a proud political dissident and public enemy of a rogue regime,” Trump said.
Trump's victories in Missouri and Idaho gave him 54 and 32 delegates, respectively.
Haley's count is now 244, while Haley's count is 24.
To clinch the Republican nomination, a candidate needs to secure 1,215 delegates.
Trump is likely to face Democratic President Joe Biden in the November election, marking the second time the two have faced off since 2020.