Presidential hopeful Nikki Haley won her first primary election on Sunday. She prevailed over former President Donald Trump in the District of Columbia, ending the former president’s unbeaten streak.
Team Trump took notice.
Campaign surrogate Donald Trump Jr. went on Twitter to slam Haley’s campaign… and he drew a blistering comparison from professional sports.
On Sunday night, Trump Jr. tweeted a screenshot of a YouTube video called “Chris Paul hits a huge three to cut the lead down to 42.”
As a caption, he wrote, “Team Nikki Haley right now.”
Take a look —
Team Nikki Haley right now pic.twitter.com/2pEIhm7jpz
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) March 4, 2024
The former president himself commented on Haley’s victory, too. He claimed to have avoided campaigning in D.C., and he touted his victories in Saturday’s caucuses, in Missouri and Idaho.
“I purposely stayed away from the D.C. Vote because it is the ‘Swamp,’ with very few delegates, and no upside. Birdbrain spent all of her time, money and effort there,” the former president said Sunday on Truth Social. “Over the weekend we won Missouri, Idaho, and Michigan – BIG NUMBERS – Complete destruction of a very weak opponent.”
His campaign released a similar statement, sarcastically congratulating Haley.
“The swamp has claimed their queen,” Trump campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt tweeted Sunday. “While Nikki has been soundly rejected throughout the rest of America, she was just crowned Queen of the Swamp by the lobbyists and DC insiders that want to protect the failed status quo.”
However, Haley takes pride in winning support from the Republicans with firsthand knowledge of Trump.
“It’s not surprising that Republicans closest to Washington dysfunction are rejecting Donald Trump and all his chaos,” Haley spokesperson Olivia Perez-Cubas said in a statement. The spokesperson also celebrated Haley as the only woman ever to win a Republican primary for president.
Haley won all 19 of D.C.’s delegates, and she’s now nabbed 42 delegates in total. By comparison, Michael Bloomberg won 49 delegates in the Democrats’ 2020 primary, and Pete Buttigieg won 24 before suspending his campaign on March 1 of that year.
The South Carolina Republican has promised to stay in the race until after Super Tuesday, and she’s patted herself on the back for her campaign’s upward trend. “We wanted to be strong in Iowa. We wanted to be stronger than that in New Hampshire,” she told reporters while campaigning in the Granite State.
Still, Trump remains the distant frontrunner, despite Haley’s upward trend. He’s already collected 247 delegates, and he’s favored to win hundreds more on Super Tuesday.
Republicans make up fewer than 6 percent of all registered voters in D.C. In absolute terms, the District contains fewer than 30,000 registered Republicans, and only about 1,300 people voted for Haley on Sunday.
Haley tweeted about her victory and earned 8,900 likes… more than six times her vote total in D.C.
However, Haley also takes pride in “trying to make sure that we touch every hand that we can and speak to every person,” she said at a rally in D.C.
Take a look —
Let’s do it. Thank you, DC! We fight for every inch. 🇺🇸💪 https://t.co/i4yQOGkPml
— Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) March 4, 2024
Republicans closest to Washington’s dysfunction know that Donald Trump has brought nothing but chaos and division for the past 8 years. It's time to start winning again and move our nation forward! 🇺🇸👊 pic.twitter.com/QMNmcZHYGg
— Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) March 4, 2024
The Horn editorial team and the Associated Press contributed to this article.