After confirming the expected Super Tuesday losses, Nikki Haley’s presidential campaign has accepted defeat announcing the suspension of her campaign in Charleston, South Carolina.
Haley had previously pledged to stay in the race until after Super Tuesday, and kept that promise. Her promise to endorse former President Donald Trump if he became the nominee, on the other hand, is yet to be fulfilled.
Super Tuesday’s Republican primaries went as expected, but with one notable exception: Vermont. Nikki Haley secured her second, and last, primary win in Vermont, where she led Trump by around 4%.
Vermont is notably an open primary state, meaning that anyone can vote in the Republican or Democratic primaries, regardless of political affiliation.
While polls showed Trump leading with Republicans in Vermont, Haley’s win suggests that the polls didn’t accurately represent who would be voting in the Republican primary. Many voters in the Republican Primary were likely Democrats.
Nikki Haley squeaks out a primary victory in the open primary state of Vermont. Leftwing groups have been encouraging Democrat voters in open primaries to switch parties and vote for Haley in the primary. pic.twitter.com/g5Vp4scqWl
— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) March 6, 2024
“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,” Haley said in her suspension announcement. “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.”
Haley’s full suspension announcement speech was streamed by Fox News at 10 a.m. ET this morning.
Haley did not endorse her opponent’s presidential bid in her speech.
Haley’s failure to endorse Trump doesn’t come as a surprise, as she has said in an interview that she no longer feels bound by the pledge she made to support the eventual Republican nominee. “The RNC is now not the same RNC,” Haley said in the interview.
Trump has 1,040 delegates so far, and only needs 1,215 to secure the nomination. Haley had just 66 when she dropped out of the race, having only won two primaries, D.C. and Vermont, and gaining little support, even in her home state.
