Donald Trump suffers brutal Georgia primary vote against him

Donald Trump lost a significant number of votes to Nikki Haley in the Georgia Republican primary despite running essentially unopposed.

The former president won Georgia on Tuesday with 84.5 percent of the vote, as well as winning Mississippi and Washington.

However, Haley, who dropped out of the GOP primary race in the wake of Super Tuesday, still received 13 percent of the Republican vote in Georgia, amounting to more than 77,000 ballots.

The results mean that Trump has now clinched the Republican nomination, setting up a rematch against President Joe Biden in the general election in November.

The Context

Trump has long been considered the overwhelming favorite to clinch the 2024 Republican nomination, and has achieved resounding victories in the primary season.

However, there have been suggestions that Trump is still struggling to garner support from more moderate Republicans voters, which he may need to beat Biden in November’s general election. In 2020, Trump lost Georgia by fewer than 12,000 votes.

During Super Tuesday, Haley received more than 2 million votes across the 15 races, including pulling off a surprise victory in the hard Blue state of Vermont.

Haley was also able to gain between 20 and 40 percent of the votes in several states—including Massachusetts (37 percent), Colorado (34 percent), Minnesota (29 percent) and North Carolina (23 percent), with no guarantee that those who backed Haley in the primary will go on to back Trump in November.

What We Know

Georgia is one of the key swing states that Trump must flip from Biden if he wants to re-enter the White House.

With 95 percent of the ballots counted for, Trump received more than 496,000 votes on Wednesday night, with Haley receiving more than 77,000 and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who dropped out of the primary after the first-in-the-nation Iowa Caucus in January, still managing to receive more than 7,400 votes (1.3 percent).

Haley managed a stronger than expected showing in Fulton County—the most populous state in Georgia—with Trump only beating her by 21 points (59 to 38 percent).

Haley also managed to cut Trump’s lead to just 16 points (56 to 40 percent) in DeKalb county, which has the fourth-largest population in Georgia.

While Georgia was the first 2024 Republican primary race that did not officially feature Haley, The Washington Post suggested that most of her votes came from those who cast their ballots early before she dropped out the race.

In response to the Georgia results, a spokesperson from Trump’s office told Newsweek: “PRESUMPTIVE NOMINEE. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”

This is a breaking news story and will be updated.