Former President Donald Trump has won Michigan’s Republican primary as he continues his charge toward the GOP presidential nomination.
The Associated Press (AP) called the race for Trump at around 9:00 p.m. ET after the last polls closed across the state, signaling that he handily defeated his lone remaining opponent, former Gov. Nikki Haley (R-SC). As of 9:11 p.m. ET, the New York Times’s election results showed Trump with 65.6 percent of the vote to Haley’s 30.2 percent with an estimated nine percent of the vote tabulated. The primary has 16 delegates bound to it, while Michigan’s GOP state convention on Saturday will see its remaining 39 delegates awarded.
Trump’s unsurprising victory places further pressure on Haley as she lost to the 45th president by 20 points in her home state of South Carolina on Saturday. That followed resounding wins for Trump in every other nominating contest this cycle, including in Iowa, New Hampshire, the Virgin Islands, and Nevada.
The field thinned further on Tuesday as pastor Ryan Binkley announced he is dropping out of the race to endorse Trump, leaving Haley as Trump’s last competitor.
“Today, I am suspending my campaign for the Presidency of the United States of America and offering my endorsement and unwavering support for President Trump,” Binkley wrote in a post on X.
The vast majority of the field, which saw more than a dozen candidates at its peak, dropped out ahead of or after the Iowa caucuses, where Trump thumped his competition. Govs. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) and Doug Burgum (R-ND), Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy are among the other former Republican primary candidates who have come out in support of Donald Trump.
Heading into Tuesday night, Trump held a substantial lead over Haley in the delegate count, with 110 to her 20. The gap will widen further after Tuesday night. Haley only had 11 more delegates than DeSantis before the Michigan primary despite participating in three more contests where delegates were at stake for her.
Another major blow to Haley came on Sunday when it was reported Americans for Prosperity, a Koch-backed group, is halting spending on her campaign. And while she sputters forward with her quixotic bid, the 45th president has begun turning his attention to the general election. He and President Joe Biden are set to make dueling appearances at the southern border on Thursday.
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