Republicans in this crucial early voting state may cast ballots twice for GOP presidential nomination

The Nevada GOP says that it will hold its 2024 Republican presidential caucus on Feb. 8 of next year.

But Republicans in the crucial early voting state a may be able to cast ballots twice in the race for their party’s presidential nomination.

The Nevada Republican Party’s announcement on Monday of the date of their ‘First in the West’ caucus means that the state will likely vote third in the GOP’s presidential nominating calendar.

The Iowa Republican Party earlier this summer announced that their caucuses are scheduled for Jan. 15. And the convention wisdom is that New Hampshire will hold its presidential primary eight days later, on Jan. 23.

South Carolina in recent cycles has held the third contest in the GOP calendar, but the Palmetto State’s Republican Party announced in June that their 2024 presidential primary will be held on Feb. 24 of next year.

The Nevada GOP’s Feb. 8 caucus will be held just two days after the state conducts a presidential primary election. Nevada’s Democratic controlled legislature passed a bill last year – which was signed into law by then-Democratic Gov. Steve Sisolak – that changed the state’s presidential contest from a caucus to a primary and set the date for Feb. 6, 2024.

The Nevada GOP unsuccessfully challenged the new state primary in court. But the judge, in ruling against the state Republicans, said that the Nevada GOP does not have to bind its presidential delegates to the results of the primary – and could still hold a caucus.

That means there may end up being two back-to-back Republican presidential nomination contests in Nevada – but only one would count towards the GOP nomination.

The Republican National Committee has set an Oct. 1 deadline for states to inform the committee of their plans for electing, selecting, allocating, and binding delegates.

The most recent Nevada GOP presidential caucus was conducted in 2016. No caucus was held in 2020, as the state Republican Party decided to allocate all of its delegates to then-President Donald Trump.