Despite having no serious rivals in the absence of Donald Trump, Nikki Haley was humiliated in the Nevada Republican primary.
The Associated Press estimated that she received far fewer votes than the "none of these candidates" option. Ms Haley got less than half (20,799 or 30.8 per cent) of the 42,534 votes that “none of these candidates” obtained, with 86 percent of the votes counted.
However, she did fare much better than former vice-president Mike Pence who collected 4% of the votes and Tim Scott on 1%.
Nevada Republicans have said success in the caucus is the only way to win state delegates, which means they will go to Donald Trump since Nikki Haley is not standing in the caucus but he is. The former president chose not to compete in the Nevada primary.
As anticipated, President Biden easily prevailed in Tuesday's Democratic primary in Nevada.
On January 23 Donald Trump won the New Hampshire primary, meaning he's one step closer to becoming the Republican challenger to Joe Biden in the US presidential elections.
As expected, the twice-impeached former president relied on his loyal fan base to beat Ms Haley.
Ron DeSantis, the other key challenger attempting to break Trump's grip on the Republican party, dropped out days before the season's first primary.
While Mr Trump has long been considered the favourite to become the Republican nominee, Ms Haley remained optimistic about her campaign, saying: "This race is far from over."
And she's right because the primaries will continue for almost six months until the official nominee is officially announced at the Republican National Convention in July.
Meanwhile, the BBC reported that President Joe Biden easily won New Hampshire's Democratic primary on January 24, even though he was not on the ballot. Enough voters wrote his name on their ballot papers, avoiding him the humiliation of losing to Dean Phillips, a Democratic congressman.
Here's the significance of the US primaries before the main election later this year.
What are the US primaries?
The US primaries, or primary elections, are a crucial part of the American electoral process. They are a series of state-level elections held by political parties to determine their respective candidates for various offices, most importantly the presidency but also governorships and congressional seats.
There are two main types of primaries:
Closed primaries: Only registered members of a specific political party can vote in their party's primary. This system aims to ensure that the party's members have a direct say in selecting the nominee.
Open primaries: Voters, regardless of their party affiliation, can participate in any party's primary. This allows for greater participation but raises the possibility of strategic voting by members of one party trying to influence the other party's nominee.
Rules and voting systems vary depending on each US state.
During a primary, party members will cast a secret vote for their preferred candidate. However, the outcome of the primary vote isn't a straightforward win.
Instead, the candidates are awarded several delegates based on the primary results. The delegates will later vote at the national party convention and eventually select the nominee. The candidates that have the most delegates get the party nomination.
Alongside primaries, some states hold caucuses – another process enabling a state to select its party nominees. Instead of a secret ballot, caucuses are public gatherings of party members and the selection process is often open voting.
All 50 of America's states and overseas territories will hold either a primary or a caucus to select the party nominee.
What is the significance of the New Hampshire primary and Iowa caucus?
The New Hampshire primary came eight days after the Iowa caucus this year, meaning they are the first two nomination processes of the season.
Both these election processes tend to receive a lot of media attention, as they can signal the general appetite among voters for the candidates. As such, they're important because they come first. If candidates don't do as well as expected in the primaries, they are more likely to drop out of the race.
The other significant event during the primaries is Super Tuesday, which refers to the day many states hold a primary and appoint their delegates.
Who is winning in the Republican primaries?
There were 40 delegates up for grabs in the Republican Iowa caucus last week and 22 in the New Hampshire primary.
Mr Trump is leading with 32 delegates, while Ms Haley has 17.
Mr DeSantis and Vivek Ramaswamy were the only other two politicians who were trying to land the party nomination. Both received a handful of delegates (De Santis had nine and Ramaswamy three) before dropping out of the race.
What happens after the US primaries?
Primaries and caucuses will be held nationwide until June 2024 before the national conventions confirm the party nominees.
For the Republican party, the national convention will be held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin between July 15 and July 18. The Democratic National Convention will be held in Chicago over August 19-22.
It means by this summer, Americans will know which two candidates are heading to the US election.
In the months running up to the election, the party nominees usually participate in several debates before citizens head to the polls.
The main election will then be held on November 5 before the new president is inaugurated in January 2025.
