Trump defeats Haley in Utah’s GOP presidential caucuses on Super Tuesday
Mar 6, 2024, 12:32 AM | Updated: 9:09 am
FILE - Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump gestures at a campaign rally, March 2, 2024, in Richmond, Va. The Supreme Court has restored Donald Trump to 2024 presidential primary ballots, rejecting state attempts to hold the Republican former president accountable for the Capitol riot. The justices ruled a day before the Super Tuesday primaries that states cannot invoke a post-Civil War constitutional provision to keep presidential candidates from appearing on ballots. (AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)
(AP Photo/Steve Helber, File)
SALT LAKE CITY — Just after 1:30 a.m. Wednesday morning, the Associated Press called Utah’s presidential caucuses for former President Donald Trump. It was the final race to be called from Super Tuesday, which saw overwhelming support for a rematch of the 2020 election between Trump and President Joe Biden.
The Utah Republican Party released its numbers from Tuesday night’s caucuses that found Trump leading former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley. The preliminary results were:
- Trump 57%
- Haley 41.98%
- Binkley 1.02%
RESULTS: The @AP reports Donald Trump won Utah by almost 18 percentage points.@UtahGOP Chair Rob Axson calls last night's caucus "successful" despite some locations who saw long lines, servers crashing, registration issues and people leaving without voting. @KSL5TV pic.twitter.com/mEVk87CPGe
— Lindsay Aerts (@LindsayOnAir) March 6, 2024
These numbers were provided by Utah Republican Party Chair Rob Axson. He was at Brighton High School Tuesday, where he tried to explain the caucus process to frustrated participants where some heckled him.
The GOP runs the primary, not the state, which runs elections.
Reports of GOP caucus chaos make waves on Utah’s Super Tuesday
California primaries for Democrats and Republicans were called Tuesday, a state an hour behind Utah, leaving Utah and Alaska as the only unfinished results among Super Tuesday states. The AP was able to call the Alaska Republican presidential caucuses at 12:17 a.m. MST based on initial vote returns.
In the night’s final call, the AP declared Trump the winner of Utah’s presidential caucuses at 1:39 a.m. MST with 65% of the votes counted and Trump holding 58% of them.
According to the AP, Haley — who visited Utah — watched Tuesday’s results in private. She suspended her presidential campaign Wednesday after being soundly defeated across the country on Super Tuesday, leaving Trump as the last remaining major candidate for the 2024 Republican nomination.
Nikki Haley to Utah Republicans: Where do you want the party to go?
Texas’ Ryan Binkley received votes but had already dropped out of the race and endorsed Trump.
