The Republican primaries held on Tuesday in Maryland, Nebraska and West Virginia highlight the crucial role Nikki Haley‘s moderate Republican voters will have in the 2024 presidential election.

While former president Donald Trump won the most votes in all three states, winning around 80 to 90%, Haley received a notable number of votes despite dropping out of the election more than two months ago.

Winning 20% in Maryland, equivalent to more than 47,500 votes, and 17.8% in Nebraska, amounting to 37,000 ballots, Haley has repeatedly won significant votes in primaries in Indiana and Pennsylvania, as well as in battleground states such as Georgia, Arizona and Wisconsin.

“In every swing state, except for Nevada, the number of Nikki Haley [primary] voters far outpaces the [margin] between Trump and Biden in 2020,” said Robert Schwartz, executive director of the Haley Voters Working Group and an advisor to the Haley Voters for Biden super PAC.

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Despite Haley’s notable electoral successes in increasingly blue suburbs, Trump has made no effort to secure Haley’s voters and bring them back under the GOP umbrella. 

Trump has not tried to contact Haley for her support. 

While Trump’s campaign team has made no effort to secure the votes of Haley’s supporters, President Joe Biden is committed to gaining the vote from anti-Trump Republicans.

The Biden Administration has targeted major Haley donors and anti-Trump GOP endorsers to bring in Haley voters. Biden’s team has reached out to endorsers such as billionaire Mark Cuban, who attended a Biden fundraiser in March, and former Georgia Lt. Gov. Geoff Duncan, who announced his plans to vote for Biden this week.

Biden’s campaign has purchased a series of TV and digital ads, seeking to target Haley voters in suburban counties, researching messages that will best reach her constituency.

Schwartz said that Haley supporters are mainly focused on Biden’s stance on border control and the Israel-Hamas War, which has already lost Biden supporters in the Michigan and Minnesota primaries.

Haley is not expected to endorse Trump or encourage donors to support any other candidate, and announced in March, “It is now up to Donald Trump to earn the votes of those in our party and beyond who did not support him.”

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