
Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley has suspended her campaign after a poor showing in the Republican primaries. Haley’s announcement to drop out of the race came in her hometown of Charleston, SC. In the Super Tuesday primaries, Haley only won Vermont and was not competitive in the other 14 states. Haley’s only other primary victory was on March 3rd in Washington D.C., which saw less than a 10low turnout among Republican voters.
Donald Trump now has 1,004 delegates and only needs 211 to reach the 1,215 delegates needed clinch the Republican nomination. Haley finished with 89. The only other republican candidates to receive delegates were Ron DeSantis with nine and Vivek Ramaswamy with three. Both dropped out of the race in Jan.
In her press conference, Haley said about Trump, “I congratulate him and wish him well. Unlike other Republican candidates who dropped out of the race, Haley has not endorsed Trump but only said, “It is now up to Donald Trump to earn the votes of those in our party and beyond it who did not support him. And I hope he does that. At its best, politics is about bringing people into your cause, not turning them away. And our conservative cause badly needs more people. This is now his time for choosing.”
There has been speculation that Haley may be a contender to re-enter the presidential race as a third-party candidate. On the eve of Super Tuesday she said that she would not run as a third-party candidate. However, she also signed the pledge among the Republican primary contenders to support the eventual nominee. By not endorsing Donald Trump in her press conference, she is opening herself to questions about her support of Trump and the Republican Party.
🚨Nikki Haley drops out of race and skips endorsement for Trump: “I wish him well..” pic.twitter.com/venOaCOVpF
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) March 6, 2024
During her second term as South Carolina’s governor in 2016, then-President-elect Trump asked Haley to become the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. She served in that position for two years, resigning in December 2017. The reason for her resignation has not been clear.
Since her resignation from the U.N., Haley’s relationship with Trump has been contentious. The two have been highly critical of each other during the primary in both policy and personal attacks.