Donald Trump is expected to win the state’s delegates in a separate caucus on Thursday, so his absence from Tuesday’s Republican presidential primary in Nevada won’t affect his delegate total.
Trump will not be competing in Tuesday’s primary due to a disagreement between local Republican officials and state law enforcement. The party maintains that only the Thursday caucus will be considered.
The front-runner for the Republican nomination, Nikki Haley, is almost unopposed in Tuesday’s primary. The attention now is on the caucuses, where Trump is predicted to easily pick up another 26 delegates for the Republican National Convention in July, as there are no delegates up for grabs in her predicted triumph. In this case, the main process that travels across Nevada is essentially invisible.
In his analysis, George Washington University’s Peter Loge noted that the Nevada primary and caucus processes were not given much public notice since they were eclipsed by major sporting events such as the Super Bowl, which pitted the Kansas City Chiefs against the San Francisco 49ers.
Nevada formerly chose its presidential candidates in caucuses for both parties. Though the state’s Republican leadership is opposed to the procedures, mail-in and absentee voting are required for the primaries due to a 2021 legislative change. They contend that the caucus structure, which is thought to benefit Trump because of his ardent fan base’s willingness to attend such gatherings, is vital to preserving the integrity of the electoral process.
A few Republican voters in the state feel disenfranchised by the party’s choice to give the caucus priority, a notion that Haley’s campaign has echoed: the Nevada process is “rigged for Trump.”
Tuesday night’s results are expected to include the Republican primary and the Democratic vote, which President Joe Biden is expected to win given his recent efforts to campaign in Nevada. On Thursday, the Nevada Republican Party will make the results of the caucuses public.