Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley has won the Republican primary in Washington DC, beating former US President Donald Trump.
Her win was the first time she defeated the former president in the 2024 race to become the Republican nominee for president.
Haley lost in her home state of South Carolina, but she became the first woman to win a Republican primary in US history.
Trump, however, has a big advantage over Haley and is expected to face Joe Biden in the November election, BBC reports.
CBS, the BBC’s US partner, says that Haley will get all 19 Republican delegates available in Washington DC, giving her 43 delegates nationwide – far behind Trump’s 247.
Haley, a former US envoy to the UN, got 62.9% of the vote, compared to Trump’s 33.2%.
It is seen as a mostly symbolic win, as the capital is a strongly Democrat-leaning area, with only about 23,000 registered Republicans in the city.
Local party officials said 2,035 Republicans took part in the primary, the Washington Post said.
Haley’s campaign national spokesperson Olivia Perez-Cubas said: “It’s not surprising that Republicans nearest to Washington dysfunction are rejecting Donald Trump and all his chaos”.
The Trump Campaign, however, was quick to downplay Haley’s win, calling her the “Queen of the Swamp”.
“While Nikki has been widely rejected across 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. The swamp has claimed their queen,” Trump Campaign press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, said.
Trump has won every state primary or caucus so far in the Republican race, and is set to win more delegates this week, on Super Tuesday, when voters in 15 states and one US territory will choose their candidate. It is the biggest day of nominating contests, with 874 Republican delegates’ support up for grabs.
Haley has promised to stay in the race until at least 5 March, when thousands of people will vote on Super Tuesday.
