Nikki Haley has won the Republican primary in the District of Columbia, marking her first victory of the 2024 campaign.
Her victory on Sunday at least temporarily halts Donald Trump’s sweep of the Republican voting contests, although the former president is bound to pick up several hundred more delegates in this week’s Super Tuesday races.
Despite her early losses, Mrs Haley has said she would remain in the race at least through those contests, although she has declined to name any primary she felt confident she would win.
Following last week’s loss in her home state of South Carolina, Mrs Haley remained adamant that voters in the places that followed deserved an alternative to Mr Trump despite his dominance thus far in the campaign.
The Associated Press declared Mrs Haley the winner on Sunday night after DC Republican Party officials released the results.
Washington is one of the most heavily Democratic jurisdictions in the nation, with only about 23,000 registered Republicans in the city.
Democrat Joe Biden won the district in the 2020 general election with 92% of the vote.
Mrs Haley held a rally in the nation’s capital on Friday before heading back to North Carolina and a series of states holding Super Tuesday primaries.
She joked with more than 100 supporters inside a hotel ballroom, “who says there’s no Republicans in DC, come on”.
“We’re trying to make sure that we touch every hand that we can and speak to every person,” Mrs Haley said.
As she gave her standard campaign speech, criticising Mr Trump for running up the federal deficit, one rallygoer said: “He cannot win a general election. It’s madness.”
That prompted agreement from Mrs Haley, who argues that she can deny Mr Biden a second term but Mr Trump will not be able to.