Reprinted with permission from Independent Media Institute
Donald Trump is heading to Nevada on Friday for a campaign rally on the eve of the state’s presidential caucuses. However, unlike his previous rallies in early voting states of Iowa and New Hampshire, Nevada Republicans will not be able to vote for Trump (or anyone else) the day after the rally.
That’s because Nevada is one of several states to cancel their nominating contest.
In September 2019, the Nevada Republican Party voted to cancel the state’s presidential nominating contest, becoming one of the first in a series of states to follow suit.
State officials admitted they were canceling the contest to help Trump. The decision to cancel was based on the “inevitable conclusion that President Trump will be getting our delegates at the National Convention in Charlotte,” Keith Schipper, Nevada GOP spokesperson said at the time.
Since then, Republicans in several states have either canceled their nominating contest or changed the rules to all but assure Trump is victorious.
Along with Nevada, Republicans in Arizona, Hawaii, Kansas, and South Carolina canceled their nominating contests.
The GOP state parties in Georgia, Minnesota, and Wisconsin refused to list any candidate other than Trump on their state’s primary ballot.
In Michigan, Republicans changed the amount of support a candidate needs to receive national delegates.
“This kind of un-American bullshit shouldn’t happen here,” former Rep. Joe Walsh, a Republican who recently ended his campaign for the GOP nomination, said in January about states canceling their primaries.
In states that have not rigged the primary for Trump, support for him has been lackluster.
In Iowa, Trump became the first incumbent to lose a delegate to another candidate in almost 30 years, losing one of Iowa’s 40 delegates to former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld.
On the day before the New Hampshire primary, Trump boasted that he had the support of 95% of Republicans. Yet he received less than 86% of the New Hampshire GOP vote.
“President Trump has delivered for Nevada, and Nevada is going to deliver for him,” Nevada Republican Party chair Michael McDonald said in a press release about Trump’s upcoming rally, set for Feb. 21. Trump lost the state to Hillary Clinton in 2016.
On the Democratic side, voters in Nevada will caucus on Saturday, Feb. 22, to help select the nominee who will face Trump in November. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) leads in the average of Nevada polls, followed by former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).
After Nevada, Democrats in South Carolina will vote in a Feb. 29 primary. South Carolina Republicans canceled their primary.
