Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley said “may the best woman win” on Sunday as she responded to Florida Governor Ron DeSantis dropping out of the presidential race.
The news came as Haley addressed potential supporters at Brown’s Lobster Pound in Seabrook, New Hampshire, with state Governor Chris Sununu at her side.
Haley is campaigning in the Granite State after banning DailyMail.com reporters and photographers from all her events over reporting on alleged affairs.
The former U.N. ambassador drew cheers when she announced that DeSantis was quitting Sunday afternoon and endorsed former President Donald Trump in a video message on his way out.
“I want to tell Ron that he ran a great race, he’s been a good governor and we wish him the best,” Haley said. “That said, there’s now one guy and one lady left.”
Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley (left), with New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu (right), informs attendees at a campaign event at Brown’s Lobster Pound in Seabrook, New Hampshire that Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has dropped out of the presidential race
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis announced his decision to drop out of the race — and endorse former President Donald Trump — in a video message posted on X on Sunday afternoon. In it he called Haley ‘a repackaged form of warmed-over corporatism’
In turn, DeSantis kicked Haley as he walked out the door.
He said Trump had his support “because we cannot go back to the old Republican guard of yesteryear, a repackaged form of overheated corporatism that Nikki Haley represents.”
Haley told CNN’s Dana Bash that DeSantis did not warn her he was leaving the race.
‘No, he didn’t call or inform me. And look, this is what guys do,” she said, adding that she “doesn’t take politics personally.”
DeSantis’ departure turns the Republican primaries into a battle between frontrunner Trump and underdog Haley.
New Hampshire — where unaffiliated voters can cast their ballots in Tuesday’s first-ever primary in the country — appeared to be the most fertile ground for Haley to disrupt the race.
But the latest polls still show the former South Carolina governor with a double-digit deficit to the former commander-in-chief.
This is evident from the Emerson College poll released on Sunday showed Trump with the support of 50 percent of New Hampshire voters and Haley with 35 percent.
DeSantis, who focused mainly on winning the Iowa caucuses, was at 8 percent.
CNN pollalso released Sunday, showed the race a little tighter with Trump at 50 percent and Haley at 39 percent.
DeSantis was at just 6 percent.
Before dropping out, Florida’s governor spent Saturday in South Carolina, trying to rip voters away from Haley in her home state.
While DeSantis filled the halls, not every attendee was sold on his offer, according to South Carolinians interviewed on DailyMail.com.
Larry Holbert, a 67-year-old Myrtle Beach resident, said he wished Trump would choose DeSantis as his vice presidential candidate.
“I don’t know if he would do that and I don’t think he would,” Holbert said. ‘That would be great. I don’t know if he would, but that would be great.’
Phil Cortolano, a 72-year-old retiree from Myrtle Beach, said he hoped Trump and DeSantis could “just get together.”
“We could have 12 years of greatness,” Cortolano said.
After Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary, the presidential race heads to Nevada. As the state tries to transition from a caucus to a primary, Trump and Haley will not appear on the same ballots there.
Haley decided she would compete in the Nevada primary, which is run by the state, while Trump will participate in the Republican caucus, which is run by the party, and how delegates will be rewarded.
With DeSantis out of the race, Trump has a clear path to pick up all of Nevada’s delegates.
This will be followed by the primaries in South Carolina on February 24, where Haley – despite having served as governor of the states – also follows Trump.
She indicated on Sunday that she plans to run against Trump outside New Hampshire and announced a rally in North Charleston on Wednesday, a day after the New Hampshire primary.
“Absolutely,” Haley also told CNN about entering the race through the Palmetto State primary. “And the people of South Carolina know I won that state twice. They know I’m a fighter. They know I’m going through it all.’
“I’m also an accountant,” Haley continued — a statement she often uses during campaigns. “So we saved a lot of our dollars to make sure we could be strong in South Carolina.”
“We will be stronger in New Hampshire than in Iowa. We will be even stronger in South Carolina than we are in New Hampshire. And we will continue until we are the last woman standing,” she said.