Nikki Haley has NO PLANS to make a speech tonight as her race hangs in the balance: Trump’s latest rival to remain in her South Carolina home as questions remain whether she will keep fighting
Nikki Haley resigned on Super Tuesday, facing a possible attack from Donald Trump as the first votes came in showing her losing to her rival in Virginia and North Carolina.
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, who has declared the race all but over and invited hundreds of supporters to his private club at Mar-a-Lago in Florida.
The Virginia loss robbed Haley of one of 15 states up for grabs on Tuesday where she had something approaching a shot.
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.
Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley spoke to Fox News on Tuesday as millions of people headed to the polls on Super Tuesday. “As much as everyone wants to push me out, I’m not ready to get out yet,” she said
“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.