Former President Donald Trump won the U.S. Virgin Islands Republican Party‘s presidential caucuses Thursday night, defeating former United States Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley for a third time in a row.
Trump defeated Haley 73.98% to 26.02%, according to results released by the Republican Party in the Virgin Islands. The results were announced just eight minutes after the polls closed at 6 p.m. AST.
“We had a tremendous victory, almost 75% of the vote. And that is a big victory. We expected to win, but we didn’t expect to win by that much,” Trump said in virtual remarks to caucus attendees.
Trump is also all but guaranteed to win the far-less competitive Nevada GOP caucuses later Thursday night, where he will win the state’s 26 delegates. The former president is appearing at a watch party at the Treasure Island hotel in Las Vegas.
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Trump further celebrated the USVI win in a post on Truth Social as he arrived in Nevada Thursday evening.
“Great news! As we are landing in Nevada, getting ready to go to Caucus, word just came that we overwhelmingly won the Virgin Islands Caucus, ALL Delegates, with almost 75% of the Vote,” He wrote. “I have just called to thank those involved. They are celebrating, and having a great time – They deserve it! This has been a very Big Day for your Favorite President, the Republican Party, and Democracy!”
Haley is not participating in the Silver State’s caucuses after she claimed it was “rigged” for Trump. She instead opted to campaign in the state’s primary that was held on Tuesday.
She lost the Nevada primary to the “none of these candidates” option by a 2-to-1 margin, an embarrassing history-making feat for a presidential candidate.
Unlike Trump, Haley did campaign virtually with the Virgin Islands’s Republican Party ahead of the caucuses after she lost last month’s New Hampshire primary and Iowa Caucuses to Trump.
As a U.S. territory, the Virgin Islands doesn’t vote in the general election in November, but it is allowed to help select presidential candidates during the primary season.
The territory uses ranked choice voting to determine the allocation of its four delegates in the GOP primary. Any candidate that received 50% or more of the vote automatically gains all four delegates.
“Going third-in-the-nation with an unrigged caucus using ranked-choice voting has given every candidate a fair and equal playing field and resulted in unprecedented attention for the Virgin Islands,” said Republican Party in the Virgin Islands Chairman Gordon Ackley in a statement Thursday. “The Virgin Islands will decide the trajectory of the Republican nomination.”
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After Thursday night’s two contests, Haley and Trump are set to battle in South Carolina’s Feb. 24 primary. Trump currently leads Haley by double digits in the Palmetto State, where Haley served as a two-term governor.
Yet, Haley has continuously claimed that her campaign is set to last through Super Tuesday on March 5.
