Nikki Haley to finish presidential marketing campaign, ceding GOP nomination to Trump
Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley reacts whereas talking about her husband, Maj. Michael Haley, who’s at the moment deployed with the South Carolina Nationwide Guard, throughout a marketing campaign cease on the Clemson College at Greenville ONE constructing forward of the Republican presidential main election in Greenville, South Carolina, U.S. February 20, 2024.
Alyssa Pointer | Reuters
Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley will drop out of the 2024 presidential race Wednesday after shedding each state however one — Vermont — in Tremendous Tuesday’s main contests, a supply conversant in Haley’s plans confirmed to NBC Information.
Haley will announce she’s ending her marketing campaign in remarks at 10 a.m., the supply mentioned.
Haley’s transfer cedes the Republican nomination to former President Donald Trump and successfully kicks off the overall election, with Trump and President Joe Biden taking unofficial command of their events early in main season after a string of victories.
The “ball is in his courtroom,” a supply near the Haley marketing campaign mentioned, referring to the previous president.
Haley will not announce an endorsement Wednesday, two folks informed NBC Information. As a substitute she’s going to encourage Trump, who’s near having the delegates wanted to win the GOP nomination, to earn the help of Republicans and impartial voters who backed her, one of many sources mentioned.
NBC Information has projected a near-sweep for Trump in Tuesday’s contests, with blowout races in each state besides blue Vermont, the place Haley received the state’s delegates by a greater than 4 proportion level margin with about 96% of the anticipated votes in.
A hand-picked member of Trump’s Cupboard from 2017 to 2018, Haley was the primary main Republican to launch a problem towards the previous president in February 2023.
Her marketing campaign had a sluggish begin, however she gained momentum after a number of robust debate performances final summer season and fall. Finally, her measured criticism of Trump — she mentioned Jan. 6 was a “horrible day” and criticized Trump’s conduct through the Capitol riot and at different instances whereas he was president, however she additionally mentioned she’d pardon him if he was convicted of federal crimes — earned her growing help amongst extra anti-Trump Republicans and independents, particularly in New Hampshire.
That criticism grew extra strident because the race narrowed and Haley moved into one-on-one fight with Trump on the marketing campaign path. Haley told NBC last month that the previous president was “diminished” and “unhinged,” explaining away her previous help for Trump by bluntly saying “he’s not the identical particular person he was in 2016.”
“Now we have to see this for what it’s,” Haley mentioned. “This can be a reality: He’s now saying issues that do not make sense.”
However whereas Haley’s Trump criticism tapped right into a slice of on-line donors who fueled her marketing campaign, and her help rose, she was unable to drag inside even single digits of Trump in virtually all of the Republican nominating contests.
