Nikki Haley hasn’t yet won a GOP contest. But she’s vowing to keep fighting Donald Trump

KIAWAH ISLAND, SC — There are no wins on the horizon for Nikki Haley.

Those close to the former UN ambassador, the last major Republican candidate standing in the way of Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential nomination, are privately bracing for a major loss in Saturday’s primaries in her home state. South Carolina. And they can’t name a state where she’s likely to beat Trump in the coming weeks.

But ahead of a major speech on Tuesday, Haley told The Associated Press that she will not abandon the Republican primary regardless of Saturday’s outcome. And buoyed by the strongest fundraising numbers of her political career, she vowed to stay in the fight against Trump at least until after the run of more than a dozen contests on Super Tuesday on March 5.

‘Ten days after South Carolina, another twenty states vote. I mean, this isn’t Russia. We don’t want anyone to go in and just get 99% of the votes,” Haley said. “What’s the rush? Why is everyone so panicked that I have to drop out of this race?”

Some Republicans are even encouraging Haley to stay in the campaign even as she continues to lose — possibly even until the Republican National Convention in July. Her continued presence could come in handy in the event that the 77-year-old former president, perhaps the most volatile major party frontrunner in U.S. history, becomes a convicted felon or finds himself embroiled in another major scandal.

As Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement pushes for her departure, a defiant Haley will lay out her rationale for staying in the race for the foreseeable future in South Carolina on Tuesday afternoon. In an interview before the speech, she highlighted Trump’s legal exposure and criticized MAGA activists who say she is hurting Trump’s chances against President Joe Biden in the general election by refusing to resign.

“That’s about the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard. If I drop out of the race today, it will be the longest general election in history,” Haley said.

She also pushed back when asked if there is a primary state where she can beat Trump.

“Instead of asking me which states I’m going to win, why don’t we ask how he’s going to win the general election after spending an entire year in court?”

History would suggest that Haley has no chance of stopping Trump. Never before has a Republican lost even the first two primaries, as Haley averaged 21 points to win the party’s presidential nomination. Polls show her as a big underdog in her home state on Saturday and in the sixteen Super Tuesday games that will follow. And since he announced his first presidential bid in 2015, every Republican effort to blunt Trump’s rise has failed.

Still, she leans into the fight.

To prevent anyone from questioning her efforts, Haley’s campaign is spending more than $500,000 on a new television advertising campaign that launches Wednesday in Michigan ahead of the state’s Feb. 27 primary, said spokesperson Olivia Perez-Cubas. At the same time, the AP obtained Haley’s itinerary after South Carolina, which included 11 separate stops in seven days in Michigan, Minnesota, Colorado, Utah, Virginia, Washington, DC, North Carolina and Massachusetts.

The program also includes at least ten expensive private fundraising events.

Indeed, Haley’s extensive base of big- and small-dollar donors is donating at an extraordinary pace, despite her disappointing performance at the polls. That reflects lingering Republican fears about Trump’s ability to win over independent and moderate voters in the general election, and serious concerns about his turbulent leadership if he returns to the White House.

“I’m going to support her until the convention,” said Republican donor Eric Levine, who co-organized a New York fundraiser for Haley earlier this month. “We are not prepared to fold our tents and pray at the altar of Donald Trump.”

“There’s value in her sticking around and gathering delegates because if and when he stumbles,†Levine continued, “who knows what will happen.â€

Levine is far from alone.

Haley’s campaign has raised $5 million in a fundraising effort following her second-place finish in New Hampshire, including stops in Texas, Florida, New York and California, Perez-Cubas said. Her campaign raised $16.5 million in January alone — her best fundraising month ever — including $2 million in small-dollar donations online in the 48 hours after Trump threatened to “permanently ban” Haley supporters from his MAGA campaign. movement.

Haley raised another $1 million last week in the 24 hours after Trump attacked her husband, a military member currently serving overseas.

The only member of Congress who has endorsed Haley, Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., insisted she would stay in the race even if she were blown out in South Carolina, a state where she lives and serves two terms as governor has served.

“Obviously you want to win them all, but for those who say it will embarrass her or end her political career, I disagree. She is willing to take that risk,” Norman said in an interview. “I think what she’s doing is brave.â€

Going forward, Haley’s team is focusing on several Super Tuesday states with open or semi-open Republican primaries, allowing a broader group of voters to participate — especially independents and moderates — rather than just hardcore conservatives.

Trump has shown flashes of anger in recent days in response to Haley’s refusal to cede the nomination.

He called her “stupid” and “bird-brained” in a social media post last weekend, and his campaign released a memo ahead of her speech on Tuesday predicting she would be forced out of the race after losing her home state on Saturday.

“The true ‘state’ of Nikki Haley’s campaign?” Trump campaign leaders wrote. “Broken down, out of ideas, out of gas, and outperformed in every way, by Donald Trump.”

Eager to target a general election contest against Biden, the Republican former president is taking aggressive steps to take control of the Republican National Committee, the Republican Party’s national political machine, which is supposed to remain neutral in presidential elections. Last week, Trump announced plans to appoint Chris LaCivita, his campaign’s senior adviser, as RNC chief operating officer and daughter-in-law Lara Trump as co-chair of the committee.

And there is every expectation that current chairwoman Ronna McDaniel will resign after Trump wins the South Carolina primary and party officials will ultimately go along with Trump’s wishes. Privately, Haley’s team admits there is nothing it can do to stop the Trump takeover.

In the interview, Haley warned her party against letting Trump plunder the RNC’s coffers to pay for his legal fees, while at the same time taking a short-term view of Trump’s political prospects.

Trump’s position will fundamentally change if he is a convicted felon before Election Day, Haley said, acknowledging that such an outcome is a very real possibility as Trump faces 91 felony charges in four separate criminal cases.

“People don’t look six months ahead when these lawsuits have happened,” Haley said. “He will be in court throughout March, April, May and June. How on earth can you win a general election if these things continue and the judgments keep coming?â€

As for her path forward, Haley said she’s focused solely on her plans until Super Tuesday. As for staying in the race through the convention in July, she said she hasn’t thought that far ahead.

Some voters would like this.

Gil White, a 75-year-old Republican veteran from James Island, South Carolina, said he was a Trump loyalist until the former president criticized Haley’s military husband last week.

“It’s just too much to discredit a soldier,” White said as he attended a Haley rally on Kiawah Island this weekend.

He acknowledged concerns about Haley’s chances against Trump but said he wants her to stay in the race even if she keeps losing.

“I want the choice,†he said.

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AP writers Meg Kinnard in Columbia, South Carolina, and Thomas Beaumont in Des Moines, Iowa, contributed.