Nevada will host its 2024 presidential primary on Tuesday for Democrats and Republicans, but one name will not appear on the ballots due to a twist in the GOP nominating process.
On the Republican ticket, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley will be the sole candidate whose campaign is still active. Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) and former Vice President Mike Pence, who both suspended their campaigns, will also appear on the ballot. However, former President Donald Trump, the front-runner for the Republican primary, will not be an option for voters on Tuesday.
Instead, Trump, along with others such as Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), who suspended his campaign, will be participating in the GOP caucuses held on Thursday. A change in state law in 2021 transitioned Nevada from party-run caucuses to government-run primaries. However, the state GOP is holding the caucuses anyway, arguing they are more secure and encourage more voters to come connect with their respective candidates.
As an incentive for candidates to buck the primary, the Nevada Republican Party made it clear that only candidates who participate in the caucuses can earn the party’s 26 delegates, and anyone who appears on the GOP primary ballot is essentially barred from participating in the caucuses.
So both Haley and Trump will likely declare victory on Tuesday, but only Trump’s win will carry weight at the Republican National Convention in July.
“Simply put, candidates who participate in an illegitimate process cannot expect to earn legitimate delegates to the Republican National Convention,” the Nevada GOP said in a statement via CBS News.
Though write-in votes are not permitted, voters on Tuesday have the option to select “none of these candidates” — which could cause some problems for Haley. Polling released from Providence found that 59.2% of Nevada Republican primary voters would select “none of these candidates” during Tuesday’s election, compared to the 40.8% who would choose Haley.
The loss to essentially no candidate could further damper Haley’s battle to remain in the 2024 primary, particularly after Trump won the Iowa caucuses by more than 30 points and the New Hampshire primary by 11 points over Haley. The former president has 32 delegates, and Haley has 17.
If Haley does win the primary in Nevada despite not receiving delegates, she will likely use the momentum to push her campaign forward heading into her home state of South Carolina. The primary for South Carolina will be held on Feb. 24.
Registered Republicans are allowed to participate in both the caucuses and the primary. As of Monday morning, more than 59,000 ballots were cast in the GOP primary, a majority of them mail-in ballots, per the Nevada secretary of state’s office.
Over 95,000 Democratic ballots have been cast, with over 81,000 recorded as mail-in votes. President Joe Biden, the Democratic front-runner, faces Marianne Williamson in the Democratic primary. Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN) will not appear on the Nevada ballot because he entered the race after the deadline to file for the primary passed.
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On the line for Biden and Williamson are 36 Democratic delegates, but any challenger to the incumbent would need to meet a threshold of 15% statewide, or in a congressional district, to qualify for delegates.
Biden has 55 delegates thanks to his primary win in South Carolina last Tuesday. Despite the president winning the New Hampshire primary, no Democratic candidate received any delegates due to the Democratic National Committee’s changes to the presidential nominating calendar — which New Hampshire ignored, prompting a write-in effort for Biden.
