Columbia, Missouri –
Former US President Donald Trump continued his march towards the Republican nomination on Saturday, winning the Missouri caucuses and sweeping the delegate count at the Michigan convention. The Idaho Republican Party scheduled a caucus later.
His last major rival, former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley, was still searching for an early election victory.
The next event on the Republican calendar will be held in the District of Columbia on Sunday. Two days later, on Super Tuesday, 16 states will hold primaries, the biggest voting day of the year apart from the November election. Trump is on track to secure the nomination in the coming days.
In Columbia, Missouri, Republicans gathered at a church for a caucus, highlighting the grim outlook facing Haley.
Seth Christensen took to the stage and urged people to vote for Haley. He was not well received.
Another caucusgoer yelled from the audience, “Are you a Republican?”
Organizers calmed the crowd, and Christensen finished his speech. Haley won only 37 of the 263 Republicans in Boone County.
michigan
The Michigan Republican Party began allocating 39 of the state’s 55 Republican presidential delegates at its convention in Grand Rapids. Trump won all 39 delegates allotted to him.
However, a significant portion of the party’s grassroots forces were absent from the rally as the effects of a month-long dispute over the party’s leadership linger.
Trump won 68% of the vote in last Tuesday’s Michigan primary, while Haley easily won with 27%.
Michigan’s Republican Party was forced to split its delegate allocation in two after Democrats in control of the state moved Michigan into an early primary state, in violation of national Republican Party rules.
missouri
Voters line up outside a church in Columbia, home to the University of Missouri, before the caucus doors open. Once inside, he heard the complaints of the candidates’ supporters.
“Every 100 days, we spend $1 trillion, and money flows around the world. Illegal aliens are running across our borders,” Trump said in 2016 and 2020. Tom Mendenal, who was a human, spoke to the crowd. He later added: “You know where Donald Trump stands on many of these issues.”
Christensen, a 31-year-old from Columbia who came to the caucus with his wife and three children, ages 7, 5 and 2, called on the Republican Party to move in a new direction.
“I don’t need to hear about Mr. Trump’s shenanigans with people with unpleasant personalities, and my children don’t need to hear about them,” Christensen told the audience. “And if you put that guy in the office, he’s going to be told about it all the time. And I’m done with it.”
Supporters quickly moved to either side of the room, depending on whether they supported Trump or Haley. There was little debate after caucus participants chose their side.
This year was the first test of the new system, which is run almost entirely by Republican volunteers.
The caucus was held after Republican Gov. Mike Parson signed a 2022 law that, among other things, canceled the scheduled March 12 presidential primary.
Lawmakers were unable to restart the primary, despite calls from the state’s Republican and Democratic leaders to do so. The Democratic Party will hold a party-sponsored primary election on March 23rd.
Trump won twice under Missouri’s old presidential primary system.
idaho
The Idaho Legislature last year passed a cost-cutting bill aimed at moving all of the state’s primaries to the same date in May. But the bill inadvertently eliminated presidential primaries entirely.
The Republican-led Congress considered calling a special session to restart presidential primaries, but no agreement was reached on the proposal in time, leaving the presidential caucuses as the only option for both parties.
The Democratic caucus does not meet until May 23rd.
The last Republican caucus in Idaho was in 2012, when about 40,000 of the state’s roughly 200,000 registered Republican voters showed up to choose their preferred candidate.
This year, all Republican voters who wish to participate must attend in person. They vote after listening to short speeches by candidates or their representatives.
If one candidate receives more than 50 percent of the statewide vote, that candidate will win all of Idaho’s delegates. If no candidate receives more than 50% of the votes, each candidate who receives at least 15 of the total votes receives a proportionate number of delegates.
The Idaho Republican Party plans to announce results once all votes are counted across the state.
Trump came in a distant second to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in the 2016 Idaho primary.
Cooper reported from Phoenix.Associated Press writers Rebecca Boone in Boise, Idaho, and Joey Cappelletti in Lansing, Michigan contributed to this report.
