Trump wins the Iowa, Michigan, and Missouri caucuses with a powerful display of force.
With his campaign gaining momentum in the crucial battleground state of Michigan ahead of the November general election. Some Republicans are concerned that the divisions within the party could potentially harm Donald Trump chances of winning the caucuses on Saturday.
The penultimate competitor for the Republican presidential nomination Nikki Haley was soundly defeated by Trump in each of the three states putting him in a position to lead his party to the White House and perhaps face Democrat Joe Biden again in the general election.
More than 1,600 party insiders attended the presidential caucus in Grand Rapids, Michigan to select delegates for Trump or former UN Ambassador Haley at the party’s national nominating convention in July.
Haley is quickly running out of time to influence the outcome of the Republican nomination battle. Next up comes Super Tuesday will the biggest day of the primaries on March 5 when 15 states and one territory vote.
Trump is far and away the front runner in the campaign, having won in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, the United States Virgin Islands, South Carolina and now Michigan, Missouri and Idaho while Haley is holding on owing to assistance from donors looking for an alternative to the former president.
Michigan Republicans established a hybrid nominating method for this election cycle which included both a primary and a caucus.
Knowing Trump would easily win the participants in one of the 13 caucus meetings decided to save time by simply asking everybody who supported Haley to stand. Carter Houtman was the only one who stood up in a room full of 185 voting delegates.
Houtman said he would likely vote for Trump in November’s general election if he is the nominee but he felt it was essential to stand up for his principles on Saturday.
There had been a chance for miscommunication during Saturday’s competition in Michigan. Supporters of Michigan’s former Republican Party chair Kristina Karamo are facing off against a faction of party members who voted to remove her on January 6 and install Hoekstra as chair amidst months of internal turmoil inside the party.
Hoekstra was in charge of the Grand Rapids conference and had the support of Trump as chair. After a Michigan court this week upheld her removal and an appeals court rejected her bid to suspend the decision Karamo plans to chair a dueling convention in Detroit on Saturday were shelved.
Pro-Karamo party chairs in at least two districts held caucus sessions outside from Grand Rapids in protest. However, the Republican National Committee which acknowledged Hoekstra as state party chair last month is unlikely to accept the results.
