Republican presidential candidate former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley speaks during a campaign event on March 1 in Charlotte, NC
Chris Carlson/AP
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Chris Carlson/AP
Republican presidential candidate former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley speaks during a campaign event on March 1 in Charlotte, NC
Chris Carlson/AP
Nikki Haley, the last major candidate to challenge former President Donald Trump for the 2024 Republican nomination, will suspend her presidential campaign on Wednesday, according to sources familiar with the planning hers.
The campaign sent an email early Wednesday morning, inviting the press to attend prepared remarks at 10 a.m. ET near Charleston, SC. Her expected suspension comes soon after one lackluster performance on Super Tuesday, as more than a dozen states and territories hold presidential preference primaries. Haley only won onein Vermont.
As the former governor of South Carolina and Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations, Haley pledged to stay in the race even if after losing to Trump in the nomination contest in the first few states, including her home state of South Carolina on February 24.
Speaking to supporters in Charleston after that election, Haley said she was continues until Super Tuesdayand painted an increasingly dire picture of the state of the country and the high stakes of the presidential race.
“I couldn’t be more worried about America,” Haley said. “It seems like our country is falling apart. But here’s the thing – America will fall apart if we make the wrong choices.”
In South Carolina, Haley argued that about 40% of primary voters expressed their desire for a replacement for Trump by voting for her.
She was able to beat Trump in a head-to-head race just before the New Hampshire primary, when Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis drop your bid for nomination. But she still failed to meaningfully close the gap between herself and the former president in primary and national polls.
Throughout her campaign, which began in February 2023, also in Charleston, SC, Haley framed her unique status as a woman of color in the Republican field is proof of the viability of the American dream.
“I don’t believe in glass ceilings,” she told supporters at a campaign launch in Charleston. “I believe in creating a country where everyone can do anything and create their own American dream.”
Haley’s political background
When Haley entered the race last February, she entered the race with extensive political experience. First elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives in 2004, defeating a 30-year Republican incumbent, she later went on to serve as the state’s first woman and non-white governor.
Haley received national recognition for her response to a racist incident in 2015 shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston killed nine black churchgoers. In response to that shooting, she led the effort Remove the Confederate flag from the state capitol campus. Then, in 2017, Trump appointed her to represent the United States to the United Nations, where she became known for her hawkish foreign policy.
That resume, however, could not overcome a Republican Party that shifted more in Trump’s direction after she served as governor.
Find balance
Haley occasionally seems to be struggling with her message as she walks the difficult line between pleasing Republican supporters and appealing to independent, moderate Republicans and other voters dissatisfied with Trump. In one of her most notable gaffes, Haley failed to identify slavery as the cause of the Civil War when questioned during a campaign stop in New Hampshire, a comment she promptly quickly withdraw.
She also stumbled in her reaction to the controversial Alabama Supreme Court ruling that threatens access to the fertility procedure in vitro fertilization, or IVF — a procedure that has overwhelming public supportincluding many voters who oppose abortion rights.
Ask her thoughts in one Interview with NBC Ali Vitali, Haley said, “Embryos, to me, are babies,” before clarifying her support for the procedural approach in subsequent interviews. Haley later told Newsmax, “you don’t want to take those fertility treatments away from women.”
Haley spent the last few weeks of the campaign pushing hard her attack about both Trump and President Biden, emphasizing the relatively advanced age of both candidates. She also has pursued Vice President Kamala Harris, warns South Carolina voters that the US will soon have a female president: Haley or Harris – another criticism of Biden’s age and perceived weakness that also draws a contrast between she and Trump.
Uphill battle against Trump
But her anti-Trump message and growing attacks on his age have failed to dent his resounding popularity among Republicans and loyalty to the establishment His MAGA.
Although Haley was a popular governor when she led South Carolina, the former president’s standing in the state demonstrated her superiority in a state where a high percentage of voters considered themselves “very conservative,” a large white and Christian population, and notably not many independents — a voting bloc that leaned toward Haley in New Hampshire Elementary.
Trump also fought fiercely against Haley in the final days of the race, ramping up his attacks and ads against her.
Notably, in his speech on Tuesday night as results continued to be announced from the primary contests, Trump spoke but did not mention Haley.
With Haley out of the race, a general election rematch between Trump and Biden appears completely official. No candidate can secure enough delegates to become the presumptive nominee until mid-to-late March.
