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| EFE |
"U.S. President Joe Biden won the Democratic Party primaries in Nevada on Tuesday, a state that saw Nikki Haley, former U.S. ambassador to the UN, fail in the Republican version of these elections, where former President Donald Trump did not run.
With 70% of the ballots counted, the U.S. president prevailed with 89.6% of the votes, while self-help author Marianne Williamson garnered 2.7%, according to projections from The New York Times and The Washington Post.
After learning of his victory, Biden took the opportunity to criticize Trump, his likely opponent in the November elections, in a statement.
"America was built on an idea: the idea that all women and men are equal (...) but this promise (...) has never been at greater risk than now. Donald Trump is trying to divide us, not unite us, and drag us into the past, distancing us from a promising future," he said.
Biden's significant lead over his opponents led U.S. media, equipped with technology to estimate election results, to announce their projections just an hour and forty minutes after polling centers closed.
The victory in Nevada would allow Biden to secure the 36 delegates that the state allocates. To be officially declared the Democratic presidential candidate, he needs about 2,000 delegates.
In Haley's case, approximately fifteen minutes after Biden's victory was certified, both outlets confirmed that Republican voters gave the option of 'none of the candidates' 61.8% of support and 31.6% to the former governor of South Carolina, according to a 62% vote count.
Trump's name was not on the Republican primary ballots because he will run in a separate contest under the caucus format this Thursday, presumably earning him the 26 delegates contested in the so-called Silver State.
Republicans opted for two models in Nevada: primaries on Tuesday and just two days later, the caucuses, which are a kind of assembly where voters must come at a specific time to vote for their candidate.
For decades, Nevada held caucuses. However, as these meetings used to cause some chaos, state legislators passed a law in 2021 abandoning that voting model and stipulating that state authorities should organize primaries when there was more than one candidate.
But this law did not specify how the Republican Party would assign the winner the 26 delegates from Nevada, so, taking advantage of this legal vacuum, Trump pressured the Nevada Republican Party to ignore state law and stick to its caucus tradition.
"A bad night for Nikki Haley. Losing by almost 30 points in Nevada against 'None of these candidates.' Beware, she'll soon claim victory!" Trump expressed on the Truth Social platform during the count.
Haley could not compete in both the primaries and the caucuses because it was established that candidates had to choose between one or the other, while members of her own party urged voters days ago to check the 'none of the candidates' box to almost completely stop her in her struggle against Trump.
Nevada, a key state for the November elections
In Nevada, around 2.3 million people registered to vote. Of this total, 31% are Democrats, 28% are Republicans, and 34% are independents, according to official data.
It is one of the so-called swing states in which candidates from the Republican and Democratic parties have similar support, making them crucial to the outcome of presidential elections.
Biden came to Tuesday's Democratic primaries after his resounding victory in the South Carolina primaries, while Trump is nearing the Republican presidential nomination after consecutive victories in Iowa, New Hampshire, and almost certainly in Nevada."