Donald Trump beat his rival Nikki Haley to win the Republican primary in Missouri.
The race was called at 11:40 a.m., nearly two hours after meetings began across the state.
The Missouri caucus is one of three events Saturday that will award delegates for the GOP presidential nomination.
The former president, who is particularly strong in caucuses, expanded his delegate lead at Republican caucuses in Missouri and at a convention in Michigan. Idaho was scheduled to hold its caucuses later Saturday.
Meanwhile, former UN ambassador Haley is still looking for her first win. There will be no democratic election campaigns on Saturday.
Donald Trump defeated his rival Nikki Haley to win the Republican primary in Missouri on Saturday
Trump's victory in Missouri was announced less than two hours after caucuses began statewide to award 51 of Missouri's 54 Republican delegates
Voters gathered to award 51 of Missouri's 54 Republican delegates.
They lined up outside a church in Columbia, home of the University of Missouri, before the doors opened.
“I don’t know what my role will be here other than standing in a corner for Trump,” said Carmen Christal of Colombia, adding that she was “just looking forward to the experience.”
This year will be the first test of the new system, which on the Republican side is run almost entirely by volunteers.
The gatherings were organized after GOP Gov. Mike Parson signed a 2022 bill that, among other things, canceled the scheduled March 12 presidential primary.
Lawmakers have failed to reinstate primary elections despite calls from both Republican and Democratic party leaders in the state. Democrats will hold a party-led primary on March 23.
Trump prevailed twice under Missouri's old presidential election system.
Next week there will be primaries in 16 states and American Samoa on Super Tuesday, which will be the biggest election day of the year after November's election. Trump is on track to finalize the nomination days later.
Michigan Republicans began allocating 39 of the state's 55 Republican presidential delegates at their convention in Grand Rapids on Saturday.
But a significant portion of the party's base skipped the meeting because of the ongoing fallout from a months-long dispute over the party's leadership.
Former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley is still looking for her first win
Missouri voters gather to campaign for the Republican presidential candidate at the Family Worship Center of Columbia, Missouri, on Saturday, March 2, 2024
Trump clearly won the primary election in Michigan last Tuesday with 68 percent of the vote, while Haley won with 27 percent.
The next contest is the District of Columbia GOP caucus Sunday.
Last year, Idaho lawmakers passed a cost-cutting bill that would move all of the state's primary elections to the same date in May — but the bill inadvertently eliminated presidential primaries entirely.
The Republican-led House was considering holding a special session to reinstate the presidential primary. However, they were unable to agree on a proposal in time, so only presidential meetings were possible for both parties.
The Republican presidential election takes place on Saturday, while the Democratic election does not take place until May 23rd.
The last GOP caucuses in Idaho were in 2012, when about 40,000 of the state's nearly 200,000 registered Republican voters showed up to choose their preferred candidate.
This year, all Republican voters who wish to participate must be present in person. They vote after listening to short speeches from the candidates or their representatives.
If a candidate receives more than 50 percent of the statewide vote, that candidate wins all of Idaho's delegates.
If no candidate receives more than 50 percent of the vote, each candidate with at least 15 percent of the total vote receives a prorated number of delegates.
The Idaho GOP will announce the results once all votes statewide are counted.
Trump came a long way behind Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in the 2016 Idaho primary.