Former President Donald Trump on Saturday evening urged supporters not to vote in Nevada’s Presidential Preference Primary, but to partake in the caucus organized by the state’s Republican Party.
Trump spoke at a rally of thousands in Las Vegas on the first day of early voting for the primaries.
During that campaign, Trump frequently made unsubstantiated claims about widespread voter fraud in Nevada and other states.
The Nevada GOP will hold its own nominating contest separately from the preference primary administered by state officials on February 6. The caucus will determine the Republican presidential nominee for November’s general election, with Trump expected to receive all 26 of Nevada’s delegates.
Trump dismissed the Feb. 6 event as “a meaningless event” and “a con job” with “no delegates.” Instead, he encouraged his followers to attend the Feb. 8 caucus held by the Republican Party.
The former president and the party’s favorite, Trump is already regarded as the presumptive nominee and the winner of Iowa and New Hampshire contested earlier this month.
Nevada’s dual nomination process is unusual, with most of the other presidential primaries conducted by the state’s officials. The system’s adoption has stirred controversy over the state’s reliability and efficiency. According to the Secretary of State’s Office, the Democratic and Republican parties will hold caucuses on separate dates with the official state-administered primary two days earlier. As a result, some Republican voters may get to caucus twice.
Before Trump, only one candidate in recent history skipped the official primaries to concentrate solely on the caucus, Pat Buchanan in 1996. By rejecting the preference primary and its mail-in ballots, the former President suggested an increased risk of voter fraud. It is not clear whether his claims are valid, although this message echoes his failed campaign to overturn the 2020 election results.