Former US President Donald Trump has swept Republican caucuses in Michigan, Missouri, and Idaho, gaining significant momentum in the race for his party's presidential nomination.
On Saturday, Trump defeated Nikki Haley, a former UN ambassador and his last remaining opponent, in all three states. The former president has now won every state nomination contest leading up to next week's "Super Tuesday," when voters in 15 US states and one territory select their preferred candidate for each party.
According to the Michigan Republican Party, Trump defeated Haley in all 13 nominating caucuses. More than 1,600 party insiders attended the caucus in Grand Rapids, western Michigan, to select delegates for Trump or Haley to the party's national nominating convention in July. Overall, Trump won nearly 98% of the vote, from 1,575 to 36 for Haley.
Pete Hoekstra, chair of the Michigan Republican Party, described it as an "overwhelming, dominating victory".
Check out what went down in Saturday's contest
Michigan
At the convention in Grand Rapids, Michigan Republicans started assigning 39 out of the state's 55 GOP presidential delegates. Trump emerged victorious, securing all 39 delegates. However, a significant number of grassroots party members chose not to attend due to ongoing disagreements regarding the party's leadership. In the recent primary, Trump garnered 68% of the vote, while Haley received 27%. The allocation of Michigan's delegates had to be divided into two parts because the state government, controlled by Democrats, disregarded the national Republican Party's regulations by moving Michigan into the early primary states.
Missouri
Before the caucuses began, voters lined up outside a church in Columbia, home of the University of Missouri. When they got inside, they heard appeals from the candidates' supporters.
"Every 100 days, we spend USD 1 trillion, with funds going all over the world." Tom Mendenall, a Trump elector in 2016 and 2020, told the crowd that illegals are running across the border. He afterwards said: "You know where Donald Trump stands on many of these issues." Christensen, a 31-year-old Columbia resident who attended the caucus with his wife and three children ages 7, 5, and 2, urged Republicans to take a different approach.
"I don't need to hear about Mr Trump's dalliances with people of unsavoury character, nor do my children," Christensen said to the room. "And if we put that man in the office, that's what we're going to hear about all the time. And I'm through with it."
Supporters quickly shifted to either side of the room, depending on whether they supported Trump or Haley. After selecting a side, caucusgoers engaged in little discussion. This year marked the first test of the new system, which is run almost entirely by Republican volunteers.
The caucuses were organised after GOP Gov. Mike Parson signed a 2022 law that, among other things, cancelled the scheduled March 12 presidential primary. Trump won twice under Missouri's previous presidential primary system.
Idaho
Idaho lawmakers passed cost-cutting legislation last year to move all state primaries to the same date in May, but the bill inadvertently eliminated the presidential primaries. The Republican-led Legislature considered holding a special session to reinstate the primaries but failed to agree on a proposal in time. Both parties now have presidential caucuses as the only option. Many people are unaware of the flawed bill, leading to confusion and confusion about the caucus. John Graves, a fire protection engineer from Boise, said the caucus was fast and easy, similar to Idaho's usual Republican primary. He anticipated Trump to win the caucus in Idaho, as the last GOP caucuses were held in 2012, with around 40,000 registered Republican voters selecting their preferred candidate.
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