Nikki Haley won the Republican primary in Washington, D.C., on Sunday, logging her first victory after a string of losses to former President Donald J. Trump.
She received about 63 percent of the vote to Mr. Trump’s 33 percent, according to The Associated Press, securing all 19 available delegates and becoming the first woman ever to win a Republican presidential primary.
The contest was tiny: Just over 2,000 Republicans voted in the overwhelmingly Democratic city of Washington, compared with 110,000 in Iowa, 325,000 in New Hampshire and 757,000 in South Carolina.
Ms. Haley seemed to acknowledge that in a post on X. “Thank you, DC!” she wrote. “We fight for every inch.”
She also sought to play the symbolism of Washington — not exactly Republicans’ favorite place — to her advantage, writing, “Republicans closest to Washington’s dysfunction know that Donald Trump has brought nothing but chaos and division for the past 8 years.”
Karoline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for Mr. Trump, said in a statement, “While Nikki has been soundly rejected throughout the rest of America, she was just crowned Queen of the Swamp by the lobbyists and D.C. insiders that want to protect the failed status quo.”
The race now turns to the 15 states that will hold Republican contests on Super Tuesday, March 5. While it is not mathematically possible for Mr. Trump to lock up the nomination just yet, he could come very close with strong performances on Super Tuesday and position himself to do so within the next couple of weeks.
