In a significant turn of events, the Trump Michigan Primary Victory has marked another milestone in the political landscape.
Donald Trump, the former president, has once again emerged victorious in the Michigan Republican primary election. This win is the latest in a series of triumphs for Trump, who is steadily closing in on the GOP presidential nomination. The Associated Press called the race for Trump over Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor.
Despite the string of defeats, Haley has remained steadfast in her campaign, continuing to highlight areas of weakness for Trump and offering Republicans uneasy about Trump a protest vote of their own.
“You can’t win a general election if you don’t acknowledge the 40% of Republicans who are saying we don’t want Donald Trump,” said Haley, referring to the share of Republican voters in South Carolina who voted for her.
However, Trump’s victory in Michigan was not without its warning signs. His commanding lead was weaker in Oakland County, a traditionally Republican area with an increasing number of diverse, college-educated voters who work in the tech sector and lean liberal. Trump shed support in Oakland County in 2020 and Haley’s marginally stronger support there was not surprising.
Early reporting out of Kent County, which flipped to Biden in the 2020 presidential election, showed Trump with a slimmer margin of victory there as well. That part of the state is significant to the conservative movement – the county seat, Grand Rapids, is home to the conservative mega-donors the DeVoses.
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Haley, speaking at a press conference in Grand Rapids ahead of the primary, argued that the bloc of Republicans who have continued to turn out for her despite Trump’s dominance in the primaries signaled trouble for Trump in November.
On Tuesday night, as the primary results trickled in, Haley told CNN, “He cannot win a general election,” criticizing Trump’s chances in the upcoming general election.
The future of Haley’s campaign remains uncertain. Until now, she has powered through the losses, fueled in part by Americans for Prosperity Action, a powerful funding arm of the Koch network. But AFP Action abandoned the Haley campaign after she lost in South Carolina, her home state.
In a letter obtained by Politico, the Americans for Prosperity CEO, Emily Seidel, commended Haley as a “special leader with conviction, resolve, and steel in her spine”, but wrote that the group would instead focus on Senate and House races in the 2024 election cycle.
Meanwhile, the Michigan GOP has embraced Trump. This primary only decided about 30% of Republican delegates from Michigan – because of a scheduling change, to stay in compliance with Republican National Committee rules, most delegates will be assigned during the state’s Republican convention and caucus on Saturday, where Trump is strongly favored.
Even a factional crisis that has rocked the state Republican party has not dented Trump’s support among its leadership. “We’ve got our nominee,” the Michigan Republican party chairman, Pete Hoekstra, former US ambassador to the Netherlands under the Trump administration, told the Detroit News on Tuesday night as the results came in.
This statement underscores the party’s confidence in Trump, despite the challenges and controversies surrounding his campaign.
