Nikki Haley is releasing the delegates she won during this year’s Republican primary so that they’re free to support Donald Trump at next week’s convention, a move that goes toward solidifying GOP support around the party’s presumptive nominee. Haley on Tuesday opted to release her 97 delegates won across a dozen primaries and caucuses earlier this year, according to her former campaign. In a statement, the former South Carolina governor and United Nations ambassador called for party unity at the upcoming Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, also calling Democratic President Joe Biden “not competent to serve a second term” and saying that Vice President Kamala Harris — whom Haley repeatedly intimated would end up as president in Biden’s stead — “would be a disaster for America.”
“We need a president who will hold our enemies to account, secure our border, cut our debt, and get our economy back on track,” Haley said. “I encourage my delegates to support Donald Trump next week in Milwaukee.”
Haley won’t be in attendance in Milwaukee next week, according to spokesperson Chaney Denton.
“She was not invited, and she’s fine with that,” Denton said. “Trump deserves the convention he wants. She’s made it clear she’s voting for him and wishes him the best.”
Haley was the last major GOP rival standing against Trump when she shuttered her own campaign following Trump’s Super Tuesday romp, having accused him of causing chaos and disregarding the importance of U.S. alliances abroad.
Trump, in turn, repeatedly mocked her with the nickname “Birdbrain,” though he curtailed those attacks after securing enough delegates in March to become the presumptive Republican nominee. Trump’s campaign did not immediately return a message seeking comment on Haley’s move, which was first reported by Politico. The Republican National Committee defers to individual state rules governing delegates pledged to candidates who withdraw from the contest, so it’ll be a patchwork of state-by-state regulations that determine precisely how Haley’s delegates are handled.
Biden’s campaign has been working to win over her supporters, whom they view as true swing voters. But Haley said in May that she’d be casting her vote for Trump and left it up to the former president to work toward winning over support from her backers.
Nikki Haley suspended her presidential campaign on Wednesday after former President Donald Trump accumulated a seemingly insurmountable lead of delegates on Super Tuesday, but what happens to her delegates depends on a number of factors. Haley only won one state on Super Tuesday, Vermont, which followed her only other primary victory in Washington, D.C., earlier this week. The former president is likely to clinch the nomination on March 12. Haley’s path to the nomination would have become even more difficult after March 15, when Republican Party rules give states the option to award all of their delegates to the candidate with the most votes.
In the earlier contests, most states award delegates proportionally to the percentage of vote that candidates won either statewide or in individual congressional districts. Some states require candidates to reach a certain threshold of support for any delegates which can be as high as 20%, according to Republican Party rules, unless one candidate wins a major portion of the votes — usually 50% — and it becomes winner-take-all. How are delegates technically supposed to vote at their convention? Josh Putnam, a political scientist who specializes in delegate rules, said delegates in “the vast majority of cases are locked in” to a candidate heading into the Republican National Convention.
A candidate who wins a primary or caucus is typically allocated delegate slots that will be filled with actual people at the states’ party conventions later on. But if a candidate drops out before those delegate slots are filled with their supporters, those spots may be filled with people who are loyal to another candidate, Putnam said. “For the most part, none of those slots have been filled yet,” Putnam said of the delegate slots that Haley has been awarded. “If she and her campaign remain active in that selection process, then they may actually be Haley delegates. But if she disengages, then it’s likely that the state party fills those delegate slots with Trump-sympathetic folks.”
Putnam thought it would be unlikely for Haley to participate in the selection process for such a small number of delegates. “It’s not going to have that big of an impact at the convention,” he said of whether those delegates are ultimately Haley supporters. “It’s not going to make a difference with respect to who the nominee is going to be.”
Why delegates might vote for someone other than their candidate The candidate a delegate ends up voting for at the national convention in July also depends on state party rules. In Iowa, for example, delegates for Haley, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy are bound to their candidates until the national convention. But under state rules, if Trump is the only candidate officially nominated at the convention, then the entire Iowa delegation votes for him. There are about 150 unbound delegates from a handful of states and U.S. territories who are not required to vote for the candidate who won their state and are free to support the candidate of their choosing.
Both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump already effectively sealed their party’s nominations on Super Tuesday. They’re both likely to reach the magic number of delegates in contests on March 12. But Americans across the country will continue to take part in the primary process until the final contests in June.
Winning individual primaries and caucuses is just one step in the long path to winning a party’s presidential nomination. That process will continue to play out even though the outcome is assured. This story looks specifically at the Republican process, where there was more competition early in the race.
How does the Republican Party pick a presidential candidate, in a nutshell?
Both parties hold conventions in the summer where delegates technically select the nominee. The process and rules are different for each party, but the primaries are about winning enough delegates to secure the nomination.
There are different kinds of nominating contests and different kinds of delegates in a calendar that stretches from January to June, so keeping track of the delegate math can get complicated if there is a close race. That is not the case this year. Trump has won every state but Vermont so far and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, his top rival, has suspended her campaign. Biden has won every state primary, but he did lose the Democratic caucus in American Samoa. His only remaining Democratic challenger, the author Marianne Williamson, took the unusual step of unsuspending her campaign earlier this year. She has not yet won any delegates.
What is a delegate?
Performing well in primaries and caucuses equals delegates, and the larger goal is amassing the magic number of delegates to secure a nomination before delegate voting at the party convention.
How many delegates are there?
Winning the GOP nomination requires at least 1,215 out of 2,429 delegates awarded as part of the primary process.
In years without an incumbent, like Republicans are experiencing in 2024, the winner frequently does not hit the magic number until May or even June. In 2016, in his first of three White House runs, Trump hit the magic number on May 26. Trump’s ability to hit the magic number in March is historic and evidence of his dominance of the Republican race this year.
When will delegates be secured in 2024?
How does a candidate win delegates?
During most of the early primaries and caucuses, states award delegates proportionally. That means that each candidate gets a number of delegates roughly equivalent to the percentage of the vote he or she has won. Delegates can be awarded based on results either statewide or in individual congressional districts.
For example, in 2016, Sen. Ted Cruz won the Iowa caucuses, but with less than 30% of the vote, he only got eight delegates. Trump and Sen. Marco Rubio both got seven delegates in Iowa that year.
Sometimes, there’s a certain amount of support a candidate must register to qualify for delegates, and many of these states have special rules that allow a candidate who wins the lion’s share of the vote (often 50%) to take all of the state’s delegates.
Things change after March 15. That’s when states have the option to award all of their delegates to whoever gets the most votes in the state’s contest.
The introduction of winner-take-all rules makes it harder for any remaining candidates to accumulate delegates against the race leader.
Is New Hampshire more important than other primaries and caucuses?
While you’re bound to hear a lot about Iowa and New Hampshire, contests that can be critical for giving candidates early momentum, those two states represent a small number of delegates.
It’s not until Super Tuesday on March 5, seven weeks after the first Americans pick a candidate in Iowa, that a consequentially large number of Republican delegates is at stake. It was on Super Tuesday that Trump effectively won the nomination, forcing Haley from the race, although the process must continue to play out.
Below, explore how many delegates are at stake in every contest.
What are the different types of delegates?
In addition to delegates who are bound to a candidate based on the results of the nominating contests, there is also a relatively small number of unbound delegates (142 total) from Pennsylvania, Montana, New Mexico, South Dakota and Guam. These delegates are not technically required to support the candidate who won their state at the outset of the convention and are free to support the candidate of their choice.
What happens if no candidate reaches the magic number?
The delegate math gets even more complicated if no candidate reaches the magic number during the nominating contests, although this hasn’t happened for decades. If there is no clear winner during the primaries, delegates could engage in rounds of voting at the convention to select the party’s presidential candidate.
What happens to delegates when their candidate drops out?
Short answer: it depends. Different states have different rules. In some states, if a candidate drops out and releases their delegates, they become free to support the candidate of their choice. In the case of the delegates Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy won in Iowa, under state party rules, those delegates will remain bound to their candidates until the convention, but if just one name is placed into nomination during the formal roll-call vote, the entire Iowa delegation votes for that candidate.
What about the Democrats this primary season?
While President Joe Biden has not faced much opposition in the Democratic primary, he still needs to win at least 1,968 of 3,934 pledged delegates awarded as part of the primary process. If he had been unable to get a majority, he’d need help from about 740 automatic delegates, made up of party leaders, elected officials and other Democratic bigwigs.
To see live election results, visit our 2024 election guide.
Source: Associated Press, CBS News, CNN
