Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign rally on March 2, 2024, in Richmond, Va.
| Photo Credit: AP

Former President Donald Trump continued his march toward the GOP nomination on Saturday, winning caucuses in Idaho and Missouri and sweeping the delegate haul at a party convention in Michigan.

Mr. Trump earned every delegate at stake on Saturday, bringing his count to 244 compared to 24 for former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley. A candidate needs to secure 1,215 delegates to clinch the Republican nomination.

The next event on the Republican calendar is Sunday in the District of Columbia. Two days later is Super Tuesday, when 16 states will hold primaries on what will be the largest day of voting of the year outside of the November election. Mr. Trump is on track to lock up the nomination days later.

The steep odds facing Ms. Haley were on display in Columbia, Missouri, where Republicans gathered at a church to caucus.

Seth Christensen stood on stage and called on them to vote for Ms. Haley. He wasn’t well received.

Another caucusgoer shouted out from the audience: “Are you a Republican?” An organiser quieted the crowd and Mr. Christensen finished his speech. Ms. Haley went on to win just 37 of the 263 Republicans in attendance in Boone County.

Here’s a look at Saturday’s contests:

Michigan

Michigan Republicans at their convention in Grand Rapids began allocating 39 of the state’s 55 GOP presidential delegates. Mr. Trump won all 39 delegates allocated.

But a significant portion of the party’s grassroots force was skipping the gathering because of the lingering effects of a monthslong dispute over the party’s leadership.

Mr. Trump handily won Michigan’s primary this past Tuesday with 68% of the vote compared with Ms. Haley’s 27%.

Michigan Republicans were forced to split their delegate allocation into two parts after Democrats, who control the state government, moved Michigan into the early primary states, violating the national Republican Party’s rules.

Missouri

Voters lined up outside a church in Columbia, home to the University of Missouri, before the doors opened for the caucuses. Once they got inside, they heard appeals from supporters of the candidates.

“Every 100 days, we’re spending $1 trillion, with money going all over the world. Illegals are running across the border,” Tom Mendenall, an elector for Mr. Trump in 2016 and 2020, said to the crowd. He later added: “You know where Donald Trump stands on a lot of these issues.”

Mr. Christensen, a 31-year-old from Columbia who came to the caucus with his wife and three children ages 7, 5, and 2, then urged Republicans to go in a new direction.

“I don’t need to hear about Mr. Trump’s dalliances with people of unsavoury character, nor do my children,” Mr. Christensen said to the room. “And if we put that man in the office, that’s what we’re going to hear about all the time. And I’m through with it.”

Supporters quickly moved to one side of the room or the other, depending on whether they favoured Mr. Trump or Ms. Haley. There was little discussion between caucusgoers after they chose a side.

This year was the first test of the new system, which is almost entirely run by volunteers on the Republican side.

The caucuses were organised after GOP Gov. Mike Parson signed a 2022 law that, among other things, cancelled the planned March 12 presidential primary.

Lawmakers failed to reinstate the primary despite calls to do so by both state Republican and Democratic party leaders. Democrats will hold a party-run primary on March 23.

Mr. Trump prevailed twice under Missouri’s old presidential primary system.

Idaho

Last year, Idaho lawmakers passed cost-cutting legislation that was intended to move all the state’s primaries to the same date in May. But the bill inadvertently eliminated the presidential primaries entirely.

The Republican-led Legislature considered holding a special session to reinstate the presidential primaries but failed to agree on a proposal in time, leaving both parties with presidential caucuses as the only option.

“I think there’s been a lot of confusion because most people don’t realise that our Legislature actually voted in a flawed bill,” said Jessie Bryant, who volunteered at a caucus site near downtown Boise. “So the caucus is really just the best-case scenario to actually get an opportunity to vote for a presidential candidate and nominate them for the GOP.”

One of those voters was John Graves, a fire protection engineer from Boise. He said the caucus was fast and easy, not much different from Idaho’s usual Republican primary. He anticipated the win would go to Mr. Trump.

“It’s a very conservative state, so I would think that Trump will probably carry it quite easily,” Mr. Graves said. “And I like that.” The Democratic caucuses aren’t until May 23.

The last GOP caucuses in Idaho were in 2012, when about 40,000 of the state’s nearly 200,000 registered Republican voters showed up to select their preferred candidate.

U.S. Republican presidential hopeful and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley speaks during a campaign rally at Norfolk Hall at Suffolk Punch in Charlotte, North Carolina, on March 1, 2024.
| Photo Credit: AFP

Indian-American Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley has bagged her first senatorial endorsement as her campaign announced that it has raised a whopping $12 million in February.

Yet to win a single primary so far, Ms. Haley on Friday ruled out a third-party run asserting that she is a Republican to the core.

Fighting a losing Republican primary battle against her former boss and former president Donald Trump, the Indian-American is trailing behind by a massive 64 points against her main rival in the Super Tuesday States.

Also Read | Trump vows to crush Haley as Republican race heads south

Ms. Haley, 52, who has gone ballistic against Mr. Trump, 77, ahead of the Super Tuesday primary, however, ruled out a third-party run if she is defeated in the party’s electoral battle.

“All the talk about the independent No Labels, all that — I haven’t talked to anybody about that. I know that they have sent smoke signals, but I’m a Republican,” she told reporters at a media round table in Washington.

The Indian-American was in Washington DC to address Republican supporters in the national capital where she hammed Mr. Trump for his policies and told her party colleagues that the country could no longer afford to have another four years of chaos.

“When I started the race…we had 14 people in the race. I defeated a dozen of the fellas. I just have one more I have to catch up to,” she said.

“Do we want more of the same or do we want to go in a new direction?” she told her supporters in Washington DC.

Meanwhile, Ms. Haley bagged her first senatorial endorsement from Senator Lisa Murkowski from Alaska. “I’m proud to endorse Gov. Nikki Haley,” Sen. Murkowski said.

“America needs someone with the right values, vigour, and judgment to serve as our next President — and in this race, there is no one better than her. Nikki will be a strong leader and uphold the ideals of the Republican Party while serving as a President for all Americans,”  she said.

“I’m grateful to Sen. Murkowski for her support and leadership,” Ms. Haley said.

“Sen. Murkowski represents the best of Alaska — she is a trailblazer and a strong, independent voice who doesn’t bow down to the powers that be in Washington. As President, I will fight to make Alaskans — and all Americans — proud by restoring fiscal sanity, energy dominance, and limited government,” she said.

Her campaign was announced to have raised $12 million in February. She had raised $16.5 million in January, the highest ever for her. The $8.5 million in grassroots donations is a testimony to Ms. Haley’s support among hardworking Americans who are “tired” of Donald Trump’s “chaos and division”, the campaign said.

“A substantial portion of Republicans are rejecting Trump’s divisive politics and isolationist policies,” said.

“They are rallying around Nikki Haley’s conservative message, sending small-dollar contributions with handwritten messages, and showing up in droves as she travels across the Super Tuesday states. Like Nikki, they believe America is worth fighting for,” she said.

In an interview with CNN, Ms. Haley said that she is not anti-Trump. “I defeated a dozen of the fellas because I focused on each and every one of them getting out. The last one was always going to be Donald Trump. The goal was always to get this one-on-one with Trump. What you’re hearing me say now is a contrast. That’s what people want. They want to know the differences,” she said.

“I am not anti-Trump. I am for America and the direction America can go. If you look at the Republican Party, I believe in fiscal discipline. I believe in smaller government. I believe we need to stop wasteful spending. Donald Trump didn’t shrink the government, he grew the government. He put us $8 trillion in debt in just four years, more than any other President. He is not talking about fiscal discipline or debt,” Ms. Haley said.

“I believe national security is about peace through strength. Donald Trump is talking about holding hands with Putin as he invades our allies. He’s talking about isolationism. I don’t believe in that.  I believe that we should have a country where the American Dream is possible and that we don’t have this tent of anger and division. Joe Biden and Donald Trump have both led into that,” she said in response to a question.