NBC NEWS
Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley has won the Republican presidential primary in Vermont, NBC News projects — her first Super Tuesday win amid a deluge of other state calls for former President Donald Trump.
Despite the narrow Haley victory in Vermont, Trump is expanding his national delegate lead with wins in other Super Tuesday contests. But his weakness with independents and other non-core Republicans participating in this year’s GOP primary showed through in Vermont.
For weeks, Haley’s campaign has pointed to New England states like Vermont as part of her path forward. The state has an open primary system, which allows any registered voters to participate in the Republican nominating contest.
In a memo ahead of the Jan. 23 New Hampshire primary, the Haley campaign wrote that “there is significant fertile ground for Nikki” on Super Tuesday due to those rules.
“Eleven of the 16 Super Tuesday states have open or semi-open primaries. Of the 874 delegates available on Super Tuesday, roughly two thirds are in states with open or semi-open primaries,” the memo added.
