Nikki Haley's presidential campaign on Wednesday brushed off her mortifying defeat in Nevada's primary and said the former United Nations ambassador would press ahead with her long-shot challenge to former U.S. President Donald Trump.
Haley lost Nevada's Republican primary handily on Tuesday even though she was the only candidate listed on the ballot. She secured just 31% in the contest, well behind the 63% of the ballots cast for "none of these candidates," according to Nevada election officials.
No delegates were at stake in the primary, making Haley's defeat more symbolic than meaningful. Trump appears poised to capture all of Nevada's 26 delegates when the state party holds a separate caucus proceeding on Thursday, which will further diminish Haley's long-term prospects as a candidate.
A spokesperson for Haley, Olivia Perez-Cubas, downplayed Haley's Nevada loss, arguing that the process favored Trump.
"Even Donald Trump knows that when you play penny slots, the house wins. We didn't bother to play a game rigged for Trump," Perez-Cubas said. "We're full steam ahead in South Carolina and beyond."
Haley has focused on winning her home state of South Carolina, where she served for six years as governor. Polls, however, have shown Trump with a commanding lead ahead of the Feb. 24 primary there.
Haley's team had spent considerable energy in recent days trying to manage expectations in Nevada, where opinion polls had consistently shown her trailing Trump by wide margins, even by the standards of a modern Republican Party dominated by the former president.
"We have not spent a dime nor an ounce of energy on Nevada," Haley's campaign manager, Betsey Ankney, told reporters on Monday.
Even so, a person close to Haley, who asked to remain anonymous in order to speak freely, on Wednesday described the results in Nevada as "an embarrassing situation."
Haley bypassed Nevada this week and instead traveled to California to raise campaign funds. She will hold an event in Los Angeles later on Wednesday.
Trump is seeking to knock Haley out of the race in South Carolina and set his sights on a November general election contest with President Joe Biden, a Democrat.
"A bad night for Nikki Haley," he posted on his Truth Social platform. "Losing by almost 30 points in Nevada to 'None of These Candidates.' Watch, she’ll soon claim Victory!"
Biden won the Nevada Democratic primary with 89% of the vote as he seeks reelection in a likely rematch against Trump that Biden has cast as a test for U.S. democracy.
Republican primary voters and lawmakers have embraced Trump even as his legal troubles and bills grow. He faces multiple civil and criminal cases, including federal and state criminal charges connected to his efforts to reverse his 2020 election loss, and has denied any wrongdoing in what he has called a political witch hunt to deny him the White House.
A federal appeals court on Tuesday ruled against Trump's sweeping immunity claim that he cannot be prosecuted over the alleged election plot, teeing up an unprecedented criminal trial even as Trump vowed to appeal.
On Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments over whether he can be barred from Colorado's ballot over the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol aimed at blocking certification of Biden's victory.