RENO, Nevada — Nikki Haley suffered a major embarrassment in Nevada on Tuesday, finishing far behind “none of these candidates” in a presidential primary in which Donald Trump didn’t even compete.
Haley’s second-place finish to the disembodied alternative on the Nevada ballot came in an otherwise no-stakes primary that will not award delegates to the Republican Party’s presidential nominating convention. Trump is expected to romp in the contest that will award delegates, the party-run caucus later this week.
For Haley’s allies, Tuesday’s setback — she has not yet won a single state in the presidential primary — was already the subject of heavy pre-spinning. Some Trump loyalists in the state had actively encouraged his supporters to mark “none of these candidates” to protest her.
“Trump’s supporters will follow that man through the gates of hell,” said Chuck Muth, a former Nevada Republican Party executive director and conservative activist and writer.
Haley’s loss to “none of these candidates” is not unprecedented. It happened in a Democratic gubernatorial primary in 2014.
This year, Trump himself decided against meddling in the primary, instead urging his supporters to “just do the caucus thing.” In Thursday’s........