Former President Donald Trump points to the crowd on Oct. 8, 2022, at a rally for candidates Adam Laxalt and Joe Lombardo conducted at Minden-Tahoe Airport.
Michael Chan | Special to The R-C
Seven months after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis attended the 8th annual Basque Fry on the Corley Ranch he has dropped out of running for President.
With DeSantis’ departure, the last Republican candidate to have participated in a series of debates has bid farewell to the caucus ballot.
With New Hampshire’s primary on Tuesday, Nikki Haley, the last of the Republican debate participants, will learn whether her candidacy is viable.
Former President Donald Trump won in Iowa and was forecast to win in New Hampshire.
While Nevada’s caucus and primary are the first presidential races in the West, there is very little doubt that Mr. Trump will sweep the Republican side in the Silver State. Haley is on the ballot for the presidential preference primary, but the Nevada Republican Party decided that any candidate who signed up for the primary couldn’t participate in the caucus and isn’t eligible for any Nevada delegates.
There are still candidates on the caucus ballot besides Trump, but the odds against one of them toppling the Republican frontrunner are astronomical.
Polls have shown President Joe Biden is struggling in several states and that could be reflected in the statewide Feb. 6 primary, which Democrats are using. That wouldn’t be any different from the 2020 caucuses when statewide results saw Biden come in second to Bernie Sanders, who is an independent. In Douglas County, most folks voted for Pete Buttigieg over Sanders or Biden.
There are almost always folks seeking the office of President who don’t quite make it to Nevada, no matter how early in the year or how we hold our selections.
Taxpayers are footing the bill for the primary, and with a third of the Silver State’s voters registered as nonpartisan, that seems like something that should be addressed sooner than later.
