WASHINGTON, MAR 6: Nikki Haley, Former South Carolina governor, announced Wednesday to exit the Republican presidential race, leaving former president Donald Trump as the Republican’s lone nominee and paving the way for a Trump-Biden rematch in November 2024, CNN reported.
Following a series of losses in GOP nominating contests on Super Tuesday, Haley announced to forfeit the race during remarks in Charleston, South Carolina.
However, according to sources familiar with her, Haley is not expected to endorse Trump. Instead, she is calling on the former president to earn the support of voters who backed her. Her plan leaves room for her to endorse the former President before the presidential election in November.
Haley was the last of 12 prominent candidates the former president defeated in a GOP primary that he towered from start to finish — including a landslide win in 14 of the 15 GOP contests on Super Tuesday.
In her latest speeches, Haley had begun honing her attacks on Trump, questioning his mental fitness and lumping him together with President Joe Biden, the likely Democratic nominee, as one of two “grumpy old men.”
Haley’s campaign
Her campaign concentrated on a message of ushering in a “new generational leader” and challenging the political norms of the 20th century. Despite her political experience and name recognition, she started as a relatively dark horse, gradually becoming Trump’s top contender.
As the race capped down to just Haley and Trump, she encountered setbacks in New Hampshire and her home state of South Carolina. Despite winning Washington, DC’s primary shortly before Super Tuesday, it proved inadequate.
In a bid to distinguish herself from Trump’s vision for the Republican Party, Haley honed her attacks, expressing worries about Trump’s commitment to the Constitution and dubbing his likely nomination as “suicide for our country.”
While Haley continued to attract sizable crowds, rumours of a third-party bid were repeatedly rejected. In her address before South Carolina’s primary, she clarified her purpose was not solely to oppose Trump but to voice concerns about both former and current presidents.
