US Elections 2024 – Former US President Donald Trump scored a hat-trick on Saturday night after he was declared the winner in the Idaho and Missouri GOP Caucuses and cleanly sweeping the Michigan Republican Convention. According to CBS News, Trump won all 54 Republican delegates that were available in Missouri as well as 39 delegates which were at stake in Michigan's district caucuses. The latter victory was in addition to the 12 at-large delegates Trump won in Michigan's Republican primary which was held on Tuesday. In Idaho, the erstwhile American Commander-in-Chief swept all the 32 delegates in Idaho. 

The wins in three major American states brought the business mogul turned politician closer to sweeping the map and securing the 2024 GOP nomination over his sole remaining challenger, Former US Ambassador to UN Nikki Haley, who is yet to win a primary. While Trump has defeated his Republican rival Haley in every single primary and caucus thus far, the Former Governor of South Carolina governor has vowed to stay in the race through next week’s 15 Super Tuesday contests. “This is getting to be pretty wild and it’s a great honour. We have to let them know we’re coming for him. We’re coming on November 5 Joe, crooked, sleepy, Joe,” Trump said Friday at the “Get Out the Vote” rally at the Greater Richmond Convention Center in Richmond, Virginia.

Saturday's three victories have put Trump's delegate count at 247 nationwide, while Haley struggles to continue in the race with only 24 delegates. Since there were no Democratic contests on Saturday, comparisons can not be made between Trump and the current president of the United States Joe Biden. 

What lies ahead?  

The next contest in line is the GOP caucus Sunday in the District of Columbia. Two days later Super Tuesday will be held in which 16 states and American Samoa will conduct primaries on what is touted as the largest day of voting of the year outside of the November election. In the Republican convention held in Michigan on Saturday, Trump won 51 of the state's 55 GOP presidential delegates. However, a significant portion of the party's grassroots force skipped the gathering because of the lingering effects of a month-long dispute over the party's leadership.

In the state of Missouri, Trump managed to win 51 of the state’s 54 delegates and in Idaho, he collected 32 delegates after winning 84.3% of the vote. Meanwhile, Haley still has not lost her hopes. She said that she is looking forward to a “good, competitive showing” on Super Tuesday and insisted that she would stay in the race “as long as we’re competitive”. However, she refused to disclose when exactly she would consider dropping out.