Nikki Haley Wins Vermont GOP Primary

Former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley has won the Republican presidential primary in Vermont, as projected by NBC News — her first Super Tuesday win amid a deluge of other state calls for former President Donald Trump, reported Alexandra Marquez for NBC News.

For weeks, Haley’s campaign has pointed to New England states like Vermont as part of her path forward. I Photo: Nikki Haley Facebook

Despite Haley’s narrow victory in Vermont, Trump is expanding his national delegate lead with wins in other Super Tuesday contests. But his weakness among independents and other non-core Republicans participating in this year’s GOP primaries showed through in Vermont.

For weeks, Haley’s campaign has pointed to New England states like Vermont as part of her path forward.

The state has an open primary system, which allows any registered voter to participate in the Republican nominating contest. In a memo ahead of the Jan. 23 New Hampshire primary, the Haley campaign wrote that “there is significant fertile ground for Nikki” on Super Tuesday because of those rules.

“Eleven of the 16 Super Tuesday states have open or semi-open primaries. Of the 874 delegates available on Super Tuesday, roughly two-thirds are in states with open or semi-open primaries,” the memo added.

At a rally Sunday in South Burlington, Vermont, Haley was joined by Gov. Phil Scott, who is one of only two Republican governors to have endorsed her, along with Gov. Chris Sununu in neighboring New Hampshire.

Haley told the crowd that “I’m going to keep on fighting” because “70% of Americans say they don’t want Donald Trump or Joe Biden.”

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