OAN’s James Meyers
7:53 AM -Wednesday, March 6, 2024
Former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley has announced that she will drop out of the 2024 presidential race after losing every state but Vermont in Super Tuesday’s primary contests.
The move by Haley (R-S.C.) officially hands over the Republican nomination to former President Donald Trump, which guarantees him the GOP nomination and sets up a likely rematch against President Joe Biden in November.
However, Haley is not expected to announce an endorsement on Wednesday, according to her campaign spokesperson. Instead, she will encourage Trump to earn the support of Republicans and independent voters who supported her, according to multiple sources.
The Trump campaign press secretary Karoline Leavitt said during an interview with Fox Business that she would hope that Haley would endorse Trump “considering again that voters and states across this country have made their choice very clear.”
“It is beyond time for Nikki Haley to get out of this race and to unify around the president,” she said. “He has been saying this for weeks, really for months. And so we encourage her to do just that, to adhere to the will of Republican voters.”
Despite Trump dominating the race, including in Haley’s home state of South Carolina, she still continued to resist pressure to drop out.
Haley was considered a dark horse candidate at the beginning of the race, but the former South Carolina Governor was able to increase her support after the Republican debates last summer and fall.
“I’m not giving up this fight when a majority of Americans disapprove of both Donald Trump and Joe Biden,” she said at her campaign’s watch party on the night of the South Carolina primary, adding that other states “have the right to a real choice, not a Soviet-style election with only one candidate.”
Regardless of her performances on the debate stage, Republican primary voters made their choice, and Haley lost to Trump in all but one primary, Vermont, on Super Tuesday.
Additionally, several 2024 GOP candidates gave their support for Trump to be the nominee after withdrawing from the race, but Haley said she no longer feels tied to the pledge she made to the Republican National Committee to support the GOP’s nominee.
In the end, Haley did not garner enough support to overcome the support of Trump in the Republican party.
Haley served as the UN ambassador under the Trump administration and previously served in three terms in the South Carolina House of Representatives.
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