Nikki Haley beats Trump for the first time, winning Washington DC primary

Nikki Haley has vowed to stay in the presidential race despite Trump’s dominance so far (Photo: Joseph Prezioso/AFP)

Nikki Haley has won the Republican primary in Washington DC, marking her first victory against Donald Trump in the race so far.

The win is a symbolic one for the former UN ambassador, taking place in one of the most heavily Democratic electorates in the country, where Republicans make up only around 5 per cent of registered voters.

Democrat Joe Biden won the district in the 2020 general election with 92% of the vote.

Ms Haley’s victory temporarily halts Mr Trump’s sweep of the GOP voting contests, although the former president is bound to pick up several hundred more delegates in this week’s Super Tuesday races.

Mr Trump won an uncontested DC primary during his 2020 reelection bid but placed a distant third four years earlier behind Senator Marco Rubio of Florida and former Ohio Governor John Kasich.

Ms Haley held a rally in the nation’s capital on Friday before heading back to North Carolina and a series of states holding Super Tuesday primaries.

She joked with more than 100 supporters inside a hotel ballroom, saying: “Who says there’s no Republicans in DC, come on.”

“We’re trying to make sure that we touch every hand that we can and speak to every person,” she said.

While campaigning as an avowed conservative, Ms Haley has tended to perform better among more moderate and independent-leaning voters.

Despite her early losses, she has said she would remain in the race at least through those contests, although she has declined to name any primary she felt confident she would win.

After she lost in her home state of South Carolina last week, Ms Haley remained adamant that voters in the places that followed deserved an alternative to Trump, despite his dominance.

This week is Super Tuesday, when 16 states will hold primaries on what will be the largest day of voting this year outside the November election.

Mr Trump is the clear frontrunner, with victories in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, the US Virgin Islands, South Carolina and now Missouri and Michigan under his belt.

• With agencies