Nikki Haley pointed to a “large bloc” of voters who harbor “deep concerns” about Donald Trump in a printed statement Tuesday evening, after the former president secured a string of victories and moved closer to the presidential nomination.
Haley released the statement through her campaign on a night when she laid low with staff as the proceeds came in and announced no plans to address supporters or campaign during the week.
“We are honored today to have the support of millions of Americans across the country, including in Vermont, where Nikki became the first Republican woman to win two presidential primaries,” spokeswoman Olivia Perez-Cubas said.
She then spoke of “unity,” something Trump has repeatedly called for in a party that has increasingly come under his grip.
‘You cannot achieve unity by simply claiming that we are united.’ Today, in state after state, there remains a large bloc of Republican primaries expressing deep concerns about Donald Trump. That is not the unity our party needs for success. Addressing the concerns of those voters will make the Republican Party and America better,” Perez-Cubas added.
Nikki Haley released a statement on the “deep concerns” voters have about rival Donald Trump after the former president captured a dozen states and banked on his march to the likely GOP nomination
The statement came after Trump addressed his supporters at Mar-a-Lago and did not mention his main rival, having won a dozen states and counting, including delegate-rich California.
Haley, by contrast, won only in Vermont, after taking the District of Columbia, with a rapidly narrowing path to the nomination. Trump had captured more than 90 percent of the delegates so far.
‘They don’t call it Super Tuesday for nothing: this is a big victory. And they tell me, the experts, there has never been anything as compelling,” Trump said.
Haley sat in her home state of South Carolina as millions of Americans went to the polls.
Her campaign sent no information about plans to appeal to supporters as the results came in, even as Trump, having all but declared the race over, invited hundreds of supporters to his private club at Mar-a-Lago in Florida.
Trump grabbed major delegates from California and Texas and was on track to clinch his party’s nomination as early as next week.
The Virginia loss robbed Haley of one of 15 states up for grabs on Tuesday where she had something approaching a shot.
Donald Trump addresses his supporters at Mar-a-Lago, where he called it a ‘great victory’
Supporters of former US President and 2024 Presidential hopeful Donald Trump cheer as he is declared the winner in the state of Virginia during a ‘Victory Party’ for the Super Tuesday primaries in Quincy, Massachusetts
And information from the exit polls described an electorate that could be open to a candidate like Haley: 72 percent suburban, largely college-educated and less committed to “MAGA” than neighboring North Carolina.
The only information about her whereabouts came from a public comment by Haley in a TV interview that she would be in her home state on Super Tuesday.
By contrast, before her defeat in her home state of South Carolina, the candidate had telegraphed that she would campaign in Michigan and on to Super Tuesday.
Leading up to Tuesday night, she said only that she would stay in the race as long as she was “competitive.”
Her campaign announced no future campaign stops beyond Tuesday, even though Trump was not expected to pick up the needed delegates immediately.
Nor did her campaign organize any calls to try to outline a path forward for the media members covering the lopsided two-person race.
Her campaign’s only public presence on Tuesday, as millions of Americans went to the polls, was a new Web and TV appearance by the candidate, in which Haley pushed back on the push to “drop out of the race for the White House” as she was confronted with a flood of potential. losing on Super Tuesday.
Haley faced pointed questions about her future when she reportedly dropped out of the race during a Super Tuesday appearance on Fox & Friends.
“As much as everyone wants to push me out, I’m not ready yet,” she said as people in 15 states across the country began voting, with hundreds of delegates at stake.
“I’m still out there fighting for the people who want a voice, so they deserve it,” she added.
Haley pushed back when asked whether she would back away from her debate pledge to back the eventual nominee, something she has rejected as her criticism of Trump has become increasingly vocal.
“If you don’t have a good night, are you going to drop out, and when do you realize it’s time to unite? Will you unite and support Donald Trump if he wins tonight?” asked Fox & Friends cohost Ainsley Earhardt.
“If I were to drop out of the race, that would still be the longest presidential election in history. I don’t know why everyone is so adamant that they have to follow Trump’s lead to get me out of this race,” Haley shot back. “All these people deserve to vote… It’s as pro-American as it gets.”
She said of Trump, who she said was responsible for a series of losses in the Republican Party: “I didn’t hear him promise that he would support me if I won. So I don’t know why I have to promise him that I would support him if I won.
Haley’s campaign brought a new digital ad Monday where the candidate says Trump had his “fingerprints” on a string of losses. It opens with a clip of Trump telling his supporters that they would “find winning boring” because they would do it so often.
Haley has no public event schedule that would establish her longer-term plans to continue the fight.
Trump has announced plans to campaign in Georgia next week.
“When will you realize it’s time to unite?” Fox host Ainsley Earhardt asked, prompting reluctance from Haley
Republican presidential candidate, former President Donald Trump, has announced plans to campaign in Georgia next week
A voter fills out his ballot at the Fairfax County Government Center polling station in Fairfax, Virginia, USA, March 5, 2024. ‘Super Tuesday’ voters in 15 states and territories will cast their ballots for 2024 United States presidential candidates
Trump is not expected to mathematically secure the nomination today.
Haley announced a leadership team from Louisiana on Monday, including several former members of Congress, but no trip to the Pelican State.
When asked on CNN Monday if she could name states she could win and how many she could point to to justify her stay, Haley avoided a direct answer.
“Well, we said as long as we’re competitive, we’ve been to 10 states in the last week. I just finished a meeting here in Houston, Texas, over a thousand people showed up,” she said.