Donald Trump swept Nevada’s caucuses on Thursday, The Associated Press projected, a widely expected result for the former president in a race where he faced no real competition.

Nevada's caucuses were an unusual contest that also featured a nonbinding primary in the state earlier this week.

What You Need To Know

  • Former President Donald Trump, as expected, swept Nevada’s caucuses on Thursday, according to a projection from The Associated Press

  • The caucuses were held just two days after Nevada held a nonbinding primary, which saw Trump's only remaining major competition, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, lose to the option of “none of these candidates” by more than 30 points

  • The dual contest stems from a split between recent state law requiring primary elections and Nevada’s Republicans wanting to keep their caucuses they have been holding since the 1980s

  • On the Democratic side, meanwhile, President Joe Biden cruised to an easy victory on Tuesday, winning the contest and the state's 36 delegates with nearly 90% of the vote

  • The Nevada contest came after Trump clinched a win in the U.S. Virgin Islands' Republican caucus earlier Thursday

Trump's supporters waited in long lines on Thursday to cast their votes for the GOP frontrunner. One site, a Reno-area elementary school, saw nearly 1,000 people waiting in line to try and help the former president win another primary contest on his road to a third Republican presidential nomination.

At a watch party in Las Vegas, Trump hailed "tremendous turnout" and the "enthusiasm" of his supporters in the Silver State contest.

"Is there any way we can call the election for next Tuesday? That’s all I want," he added.

The contest came after Trump clinched a win in the U.S. Virgin Islands' Republican caucus, giving him another four delegates. Trump beat his only remaining major GOP rival, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, with nearly 74% of the vote.

“I want to thank you all. We had a tremendous victory,” he said by phone to supporters in St. Thomas. “We expected to win, but we didn’t expect to win by that much. You are incredible people I will never forget.”

The nature of the Silver State's dueling contests stems from a split between recent state law requiring primary elections and Nevada Republicans wanting to keep their caucuses they have been holding since the 1980s.

The result? A pair of contests, one which sees the frontrunner Trump in the caucuses -- with just little-known long shot candidate Ryan Binkley on the ballot with all 26 of the state’s delegates at stake -- and the other a state-sanctioned primary on Tuesday that yielded no delegates.

Haley, who participated in Tuesday’s contest, sought to downplay the results, which saw her lose to the option of “none of these candidates” by more than 30 points.

“Nevada, it’s such a scam,” she said in an interview with FOX 11 Los Angeles in California on Wednesday, adding: “We knew months ago that we weren’t going to spend a day or a dollar in Nevada because it wasn't worth it."

"We didn’t even count Nevada," she said. "That wasn’t anything we were looking at. We knew it was rigged from the start, our focus is on South Carolina, Michigan and Super Tuesday."

Haley campaign manager Betsy Ankney echoed those claims earlier this week: “We have not spent a dime nor an ounce of energy on Nevada. We aren’t going to pay $55,000 to a Trump entity to participate in a process that is rigged for Trump. Nevada is not and has never been our focus."

Nevada State Republican National Committeeman Jim DeGraffenreid pushed back on those criticisms, per ABC News, calling Haley's remarks "baseless allegations."

Haley, DeGraffenreid said, "deliberately chose to not compete with the leading candidates and now wants a scapegoat," per the outlet.

On the Democratic side, meanwhile, President Joe Biden cruised to an easy victory, winning the contest and the state's 36 delegates with nearly 90% of the vote over "none of these candidates" (5.8%) and Marianne Williamson, who suspended her campaign on Wednesday after her loss in Nevada.

While Republicans could vote in both contests, Trump recently urged his supporters to keep their eyes on the prize: “Don’t worry about the primary, just do the caucus thing.”

Republicans are increasingly converging behind Trump while he faces a deluge of legal problems, including 91 criminal charges in four separate cases. Trump is flexing his influence both in Congress — where Republicans rejected a border security deal after he pushed against it — and at the Republican National Committee, as chairwoman Ronna McDaniel could resign in the coming weeks after he publicly questioned whether she should stay in the job.

Trump still faces unprecedented jeopardy for a major candidate. A federal appeals panel ruled this week that Trump can face trial on charges that he plotted to overturn the results of the 2020 election, rejecting his claims that he is immune from prosecution. The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday heard arguments in a case trying to keep Trump from the 2024 presidential ballot over his efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss. The justices sounded broadly skeptical of the effort.

But none of those developments seem to be hurting his standing among Republicans, including in Nevada.

Spectrum News' Joseph Konig and The Associated Press contributed to this report.