Despite Outcome of Nevada Primary, Haley Builds Super Tuesday Team

CARSON CITY, Nev. — Swamped in Tuesday’s technically meaningless Republican primary in Nevada, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley continued to press on toward a Super Tuesday showdown with former President Donald Trump, rolling out a sizable campaign team in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Wednesday morning.

Haley had neither campaigned nor spent advertising dollars in Nevada, believing the first-in-the-West contest was entirely rigged in Trump’s favor. 

While the state is required by law to hold presidential preference primaries, the political parties also have the option of holding their own caucuses, and recognizing those results instead.

The result, as explained to The Well News last week by Cecilia Heston, a spokeswoman for the Nevada Secretary of State’s Office, is that while Tuesday’s Democratic primary “counted” in regard to the awarding of convention delegates, the Republican contest did not.

That distribution will be premised on the results of Thursday’s state GOP caucus, which has long been expected to be virtually a winner-take-all affair for Trump as Haley opted not to appear on that ballot.

Her reasoning, she’s explained, is that she intends to “focus on the states that are fair.”

In a statement released last night, Haley campaign spokesperson Olivia Pereze-Cubas said, “Even Donald Trump knows that when you play penny slots the house wins. We didn’t bother to play a game rigged for Trump. We’re full steam ahead in South Carolina and beyond.”

For the record, “None of These Candidates” garnered 63.2% of the vote in Tuesday’s Nevada Republican primary, with Haley receiving 30.5% of the vote, former Vice President Mike Pence, coming in third with 4% and Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., with 1.4%.

Both Pence and Scott suspended their campaigns weeks ago. Also, under state law, the Secretary of State’s office will recognize Haley as the winner of the contest, because “None of These Candidates” doesn’t officially qualify as an actual candidate.

Still, the vote will provide her opponents with a day to heckle her ongoing candidacy, as Haley is not the first presidential candidate from either party to lose a race of “None of These Candidates” since the option was added to Nevada ballot 49 years ago.

Trump got in early quipping on his Truth Social social media network, “Watch, she’ll soon claim Victory!”

On the Democratic side, President Joe Biden once again proved to be a juggernaut, garnering 89.3% of the vote, besting “None of These Candidates, which received 5.8%, and self-help author Marianne Williamson, who got 2.9%. 

Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn., did not appear on the ballot in Nevada.

Undeterred by the outcome in Nevada, Haley bounced back Wednesday morning by revealing the impressive slate of Massachusetts Republicans who will serve as the voice and legs of her campaign in the Super Tuesday states.

Jennifer Nassour, a former chair of the Massachusetts GOP, will serve as Haley’s campaign chair in the state, while state House Minority Leader Brad Jones, state Rep. Hannah Kane, former Mass. Gov. Charlie Baker’s finance secretary Mike Heffernan and businessman Peter deSilva will serve as co-chairs.

Other key names of the lengthy list include state Reps. Kim Ferguson, Paul Frost, Joe McKenna, Mathew Muratore, Mike Soter, David Vieira and Donald Wong; former state Reps. Shawn Dooley and Lenny Mirra; Baker administration alum Georgia Polemenakos; Greg Casey, former chief of staff to former Sen. Scott Brown; and former Republican national committeewoman for Massachusetts Jody Dow.

The list is rounded out by Massachusetts State Committeeman Brock Cordiero; Randolph City Councilor Ryan Egan; Wakefield Town Councilor Ed Dombrowski; Beth Childs, chair of the Brookline Republican Town Committee; Tracy Post, chair of the Yarmouth Republican Town Committee; Dana Swanstrom, chair of the Swampscott Republican Town Committee; Former State Committeewoman Christina Bain; Former State Committeeman Bill McKinney; “business leaders” Jean Card, Pete Fariel, Peter LaCava, Anna LeBlanc, Christian Wise, Matt Keswick, and Nate Walton; GOP activist Don DeGloria, St. Anselm College student Carolina Mara; and Andrew Zemotel, vice chair of the University of Massachusetts College Republicans.

“Nikki Haley is a once-in-a-generation candidate: she’s got the tone, the experience, and the principle to lead our country into a bright future,” said Nassour, in a statement accompanying the roll out of the Massachusetts team. “Bay Staters are ready for a new generational leader who takes on the insiders in Washington, and they’re excited about Nikki.” 

On Super Tuesday, voters in a total of 16 states will go to the polls, and by the end of the night, their voters will decide the allocation of 36% of the total delegates available to the candidates seeking the GOP presidential nomination.

Haley previously announced sizable campaign teams in the Super Tuesday states of Washington and Utah.

Dan can be reached at [email protected] and at https://twitter.com/DanMcCue