Haley campaign says Nevada caucus ‘rigged for Trump’
Hugh Jackson
(Nevada Current) Other than filing as a candidate in October for today’s Nevada Republican Presidential Primary, former South Carolina Gov. Nikke Haley’s campaign has shown no indication that it knows or cares about Nevada’s third spot on the Republican nominating calendar.
The campaign at least noted the state Monday. In a conference call with reporters, Haley’s campaign manager told a group of reporters that Thursday’s Nevada Republican Party caucus is “rigged” for Donald Trump.
“In terms of Nevada, we have not spent a dime nor an ounce of energy on Nevada,” said Haley campaign manager Betsy Ankney, The Hill reported.
“We made the decision early on that we were not going to pay $55,000 to a Trump entity … to participate in a process that was rigged for Trump,” Ankney said.
The Nevada Republican Party, which decided to hold a caucus even though the state by law is required to hold a state primary, initially declared that any candidate filing for the caucus would have to pay a $55,000 filing fee.
The only active candidate on the caucus ballot will be Donald Trump. State Republican Party chair and indicted fake elector Michael McDonald dropped any pretense of neutrality last year, when other candidates were still in the race, and told Republicans to caucus for Trump.
“Nevada is not and has never been our focus,” Haley’s campaign chair said Monday. “Truly not sure what the Trump team is up to out there, but they seem pretty spun up about it. But we are focused on South Carolina,” she added.
Haley herself made similar remarks after finishing second in the New Hampshire primary. “Talk to the people in Nevada: They will tell you the caucuses have been sealed up, bought and paid for a long time,” she told reporters. “That’s the Trump train rolling through that. But we’re going to focus on the states that are fair.”
While Haley is the only active candidate on ballot for the state-run presidential primary being held today, there has been a quasi-campaign on the part of Trump forces urging people to vote for “none of these candidates” in the primary. Gov. Joe Lombardo, who has endorsed Trump, has said he will vote for “none” in the primary and then caucus for Trump Thursday night.
Trump himself has not been willing to publicly back the “none” campaign, and in his recent Las Vegas rally told supporters not to “waste time” on the Republican primary.
While Trump will win Nevada’s Republican presidential delegates to the national nominating convention in the caucus Thursday night, Axios reports the Trump campaign is still concerned Haley could sour Trump’s caucus win by garnering more total votes from Nevadans than Trump will in the caucus.