She dropped out of the 2024 race but notably did not endorse Donald Trump.
On Wednesday, after losing every state except Vermont during Super Tuesday’s primaries, Nikki Haley dropped out of the 2024 presidential race, effectively leaving Donald Trump as the Republican nominee. Haley — who was Trump’s U.N. ambassador from 2017 to 2018 — said she wishes her former boss well, but she notably didn’t endorse him.
Haley, a former South Carolina governor, said Trump should work hard to get the votes of her supporters in a speech on Wednesday. “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,” she said while also calling for a more unified Republican Party. “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,” she said.
Per the New York Times, 45 minutes after Haley dropped out, Trump responded on Truth Social to say Haley “got TROUNCED last night, in record setting fashion, despite the fact that Democrats, for reasons unknown, are allowed to vote in Vermont, and various other Republican Primaries,” he wrote. He added that he “would further like to invite all of the Haley supporters to join the greatest movement in the history of our Nation.” President Joe Biden had a message for Haley’s supporters: “Donald Trump made it clear he doesn’t want Nikki Haley’s supporters. I want to be clear: There is a place for them in my campaign,” he said in a statement.
Haley was the first Republican to announce that she would challenge Trump for the presidency in February 2023, and on Wednesday, she became the last to exit. “I said I wanted Americans to have their voices heard — I have done that,” she said on Wednesday. “I have no regrets. And although I will no longer be a candidate, I will not stop using my voice for the things I believe in.”
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