Of all of the primary races that a Republican candidate can win on the way to the presidential nomination, Washington, D.C., is arguably the least important. That is, unless you are Nikki Haley.
As the seat of the United States government, the nation’s capital is the most Democratic region of the nation that is afforded electoral votes in the presidential election. Since the city was granted three electoral votes, no Republican has garnered even 30% of the vote, despite winning several landslide elections.
Nevertheless, Republicans that inhabit the district went to the polls over the weekend and delivered a sweeping victory for Haley against former President Donald Trump. It is, to date, the only primary contest that Haley has been remotely competitive in, let alone victorious. With 1,274 votes, amounting to 62.8% of the vote, Haley secured all of the district’s 19 delegates, while Trump received 676 votes.
There will not be a Republican electorate more friendly to Haley than the minuscule electorate of Washington because there is no electorate that is as unrepresentative of the nation and the Republican base as the one in the nation’s capital.
Washington Republicans overwhelmingly work in politics or government, or in adjacent work. They are well educated, have a high enough income to live in one of the most expensive cities in the nation, and know very little about how people live and work outside of their bubble. However, they have a lot of opinions about how those people should live and work.
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So, it is hardly surprising that an electorate made up of corporate lobbyists, ambitious congressional staffers with establishment views, and government lawyers do not care for Trump. After all, he represents a significant threat to the status quo in Washington, while Haley promises to direct her administration to cater to the whims of defense contractors such as Boeing, on the corporate board of which she recently sat.
That sounds great to the cocktail party class of Washington, who on Sunday crowned her the queen of the “swamp.”