Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump cruised to victory in GOP-organised caucuses in the US Virgin Islands and Nevada on Thursday, cementing his dominance in the race to secure the party’s presidential nomination.
The former president ended the evening in Nevada, where his only challenger was Texas pastor Ryan Binkley, with more than 90 per cent of the vote, picking up a further 26 delegates.
Nikki Haley, who branded the Silver State’s caucus “a scam”, only managed a second place finish in its primary on Tuesday, suffering the humiliation of scoring fewer votes than the “none of these candidates” box on ballot papers.
Ms Haley’s defeat did not cost her any delegates but it did serve to severely weaken her claim to be able to mount a serious challenge to Mr Trump.
It also placed even greater pressure on her performance in South Carolina when that state’s primary arrives on 24 February.
Ms Haley is a native of the Palmetto State and served as its governor before joining Mr Trump’s administration as ambassador to the United Nations but is nevertheless trailing her old boss in the polls by a wide margin.