LANSING, Michigan — Former President Donald Trump won the Michigan Republican Party‘s presidential primary Tuesday night, defeating former United States Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley for the second time in less than one week.

The Associated Press called the race shortly after all the polls closed at 9 p.m. ET. With 12% of the vote counted, Trump had 65% of the vote to Haley’s 31%.

ELECTION 2024: FOLLOW LATEST COVERAGE

The Michigan victory is another notch in cementing the Republican presidential nomination for Trump and comes just three days after he defeated Haley by 20 percentage points in South Carolina, her home state. The loss in the Palmetto State further diminished the odds of Haley winning the primary nomination.

The former president has won all four early nominating state primaries in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina, along with the U.S. Virgin Island caucuses and the Michigan primary.

Haley refused to heed calls from Trump allies to drop out, and instead rallied in Michigan on Sunday and Monday. The former ambassador vowed to continue her campaign through Super Tuesday on March 5. She remains the final candidate contesting Trump in the GOP nomination battle.

Haley has repeatedly emphasized that 40% of GOP voters want an alternative to Trump after she lost the South Carolina primary as a sign of the former president’s weaknesses.

But his allies claim voters will come around to supporting him.

“Donald Trump is Donald Trump. I think a lot of people in Michigan and other places understand that he will never be constrained by anyone, tweeting and all of the messages that he puts out, the names that he gives people,” said Rep. Tim Walberg (R-MI). “I think a lot of people have come to accept that as him.”

“There certainly are independents, and there’s certainly Never Trump-er Republicans who say, because of that they can’t support him,” Walberg continued. “But in the end, when it comes actually down to a general election, vote.”

Tom Barrett, the likely GOP nominee for the 7th Congressional District in Michigan, claimed that if Trump contrasts his record with President Joe Biden voters will likely support him in the general election.

“I think President Trump has a real opportunity to draw that distinction for people. The failures of the Biden administration are miles deep,” Barrett said. “You’ve got cost living challenges that families are still facing. You’ve got a border that is completely and totally unsecured, seemingly on purpose, through dereliction of duty and purposeful violation by the Biden administration. You have national security crises, you have war, you know, seemingly festering in every corner of the world right now and growing worse and worse as time goes on.”

Michigan’s primary is the last major nominating contest before Super Tuesday when 15 states and one territory will hold Republican primary contests. Trump is expected to dominate Haley among the states that are voting and once again inch closer to becoming the presumptive GOP presidential nominee.

He currently leads her by 62.2% according to an average of national polls from RealClearPolitics.

Michigan is also the first battleground state to hold a primary this election cycle. Both Biden and Trump, should he become the GOP standard-bearer, are looking to shore up support in the crucial Wolverine State.

In the past four election cycles, the winner of the state has gone on to win the presidency. In the 2020 election, Biden won Michigan over Trump, 50.6% to 47.8%, flipping the state. Four years before that in 2016 Trump narrowly won Michigan over Hillary Clinton, 47.6% to 47.3%.

In 2012 and 2008 former President Barack Obama won the state over Republican nominees Mitt Romney and John McCain respectively.

Biden faces no major Democratic challenger in Michigan’s primary contest but Arab American and Muslim voters infuriated with his handling of the Israel-Hamas war have vowed to “Abandon Biden” and cast an  “uncommitted” vote.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER 

The disgruntled anti-Biden voters are pushing the president to call for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war.

Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), the sole Palestinian-American in Congress, voted “uncommitted” in the Michigan Democratic primary in a sign of the tensions Biden faces within his party.