Donald Trump has won the Nevada Republican caucuses, just days after the billionaire-turned-presidential hopeful predicted he would “run the table” after winning the South Carolina primary.
The clear GOP front-runner, who many viewed as a fringe candidate in the early days of his White House bid, now enters the final week before the Super Tuesday primaries with a great deal of momentum from his three consecutive victories in New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada.
“It’s going to be an amazing two months,” Trump said during his victory speech, presumably referring to February and March when the bulk of voting takes place. “We might not even need the two months, folks, to be honest.”
Trump’s latest victory provides a counterweight to skeptics of his candidacy who argued that he’d underperform in caucus states (as he did in Iowa) because of his lack of a traditional organization or ground game. Though the win also came with a share of controversy after a number of anecdotal reports of voter irregularties, which the state party dismissed.
Roughly 600 delegates (or about a quarter of all outstanding delegates) will be up for grabs when 11 states and one territory cast their votes on March 1, and more first-place finishes for Trump could make him difficult to beat for the nomination.
Trump, who faced back-to-back town halls on MSNBC and CNN and engaged in a war of words with Pope Francis just 48 hours before the first-in-the-South primary last Saturday, likely benefitted from the short, 72-hour window between South Carolina and Nevada.
Chances are high that the New York businessman’s opponents will put his past positions under a magnifying glass Thursday during the tenth GOP primary debate in Houston. Unlike past debates, where a half-dozen or more candidates have fought to be heard, the remaining Republican hopefuls will face far more questions, which could put Trump at a disadvantage due to his recent praise of President Obama’s individual healthcare mandate and for taking liberal positions in the past.
Trump held his victory celebration at the Treasure Island Hotel and Casino Tuesday night, which is located just blocks away from his own hotel on the Vegas Strip. The businessman’s speech consisted of his usual promises to build a wall along the Southern U.S. border, with a bit of added flare.
“You know, I get greedy, I want money, money, money,” Trump said, speaking of the difficulties he’s had turning away contributions from deep-pocketed donors.
“I’ll tell you what we’re going to do, we’re going to get greedy,” he added. “We’re going to get greedy for the U.S. We’re going to grab and grab and grab.”
Trump, who’s repeatedly been criticized for his harsh rhetoric against illegal immigrants from Mexico, also touted his strong support among Hispanic voters in Nevada.
“So we won with evangelicals. We won with young, we won with old. We won with highly educated, we won with poorly educated,” he said, adding, “And you know what I’m really happy about, because I’ve been saying it for a long time, 46 percent were the Hispanics.”
“Number one with Hispanics,” he repeated, sending the crowd into a long “Trump, Trump, Trump” chant.
On Wednesday, the real estate mogul will head to Virginia. Trump will finish also have rallies in Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Alabama and Georgia — all states participating in what’s become known as the SEC primary.
