Unlike in some other primaries where former GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley did well — both before and after she stopped running for president — Pennsylvania is a closed primary state, meaning only registered Republicans can vote for the Republican nominee.
In the Pennsylvania primary yesterday, more than 150,000 of those Republicans cast their votes for the former South Carolina Governor — nearly six weeks after she suspended her campaign without endorsing the presumptive nominee Donald Trump. (Despite Haley’s showing, Trump won the Pennsylvania primary handily with more than 83% of the votes.)
By contrast, some of Haley’s previous strong showings in New Hampshire and other open primary states may have been juiced, in part, by unaffiliated left-leaning voters wanting to hobble the GOP frontrunner Donald Trump.]
Haley’s 150,000 Pennsylvania GOP vote tally — more than 15% of Republican primary voters — is not just perhaps symbolically potent as a warning to Trump to broaden his appeal, but also potentially represents a practical obstacle for Trump’s campaign as Pennsylvania is a state that President Biden won by about 80,000 votes in 2020.
Fox News on the Pennsylvania primary: “The surprise of the night came from the GOP race. There were still more than 100,000 voters casting their ballots for former candidate Nikki Haley.” pic.twitter.com/VhWUA1EaPd
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) April 24, 2024
Calling the results a “surprise,” Fox News said, “Now you might remember [Haley] suspended her campaign last month after ballots had been printed.” There is little doubt that Republican voters were aware of Haley’s suspended campaign, and chose to cast their votes expressing discontent with the party’s status quo.
The anti-Trump conservative Republican group called The Lincoln Project saw Haley’s relatively large vote totals as a referendum on Trump, writing: “He’s weak, and he knows we all see it – it’s why he was up late last night rage-posting on Truth Social. Between this criminal trial, another trial that begins in less than a month, and these poor returns in PA last night, Trump is alone and weaker than ever before.”
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1. Nikki Haley won more than 155,000 votes in Pennsylvania’s GOP primary, even though she dropped out more than a month ago—16% of the GOP primary electorate in a key swing state. Trump still can’t convince many Republican voters to come over to him from Haley,…
— The Lincoln Project (@ProjectLincoln) April 24, 2024