With Nikki Haley’s candidacy suspended, Donald Trump is the only remaining prominent Republican contender

After Super Tuesday’s resounding national setback, Nikki Haley called off her presidential campaign on Wednesday, leaving Donald Trump as the only serious contender for the Republican candidacy in 2024.

Haley made a speech in Charleston, South Carolina, without endorsing the previous president. Rather, she put him to the test by trying to win over the independent voters and moderate Republicans who backed her. ‘Now, it is up to Donald Trump to win over the votes of people outside our party who did not endorse him. She said, “And I hope he does that.” Politics is greatest when it involves attracting supporters rather than alienating them. And we really need more individuals to join our conservative fight.

Haley entered the campaign in February 2023 and is a former governor of South Carolina and ambassador to the United Nations. She is Trump’s first serious opponent. Throughout the latter stages of her campaign, she vehemently advised the Republicans not to support Trump, claiming he was too obsessed by turmoil and personal grudges to beat President Joe Biden in the general election.

Her exit frees Trump to concentrate only on his anticipated rematch with Biden in November. Later this month, the former president is expected to secure the Republican candidacy with 1,215 delegates.

For those voters, contributors, and Republican Party leaders who resisted Trump and his fiery style of “Make America Great Again” politics, Haley’s loss is a harsh, although anticipated, blow. Voters with college degrees and moderate views, who are expected to be key allies in the general election, really liked her. It’s doubtful that Trump, who recently said that supporters of Haley would never again be allowed to join his movement, would be able to bring the sharply split party together in the end.

Two sources with knowledge of the planning said that Haley intended to speak to contributors during a Zoom meeting on Wednesday afternoon. The GOP was not unified behind Trump, as Haley aide Olivia Perez-Cubas said in a statement immediately after the President’s Tuesday night declaration that the party was.

According to Perez-Cubas, “a sizable portion of Republican primary voters are still voicing serious concerns about Donald Trump in state after state today.” “Our party cannot succeed with that kind of togetherness. By addressing the needs of those folks, both America and the Republican Party will improve.

Haley has made it apparent that she does not want to run on a third-party ticket organized by the organization No Labels, nor does she wish to be Trump’s vice president. With a higher national profile coming out of the contest, she may find it easier to win the presidency in the future.

In a fundraising email sent out shortly after Haley’s address on Wednesday, Trump’s team incorrectly said that Haley had backed his candidacy. The campaign did not immediately reply to a request for comment about the letter. Haley said earlier this week that she no longer felt obligated to follow through on a vow made by all GOP candidates to back the party’s ultimate nominee in order to be allowed to take part in the primary debates.

In a social media post, Trump invited “all of the Haley supporters to join the greatest movement in the history of our Nation” while simultaneously continuing to make fun of his former opponent. He added, “BIDEN IS THE ENEMY, HE IS DESTROYING OUR COUNTRY.” “MAK EXCITING AMERICA AGAIN!!!”

Wednesday, Biden greeted supporters of Haley with open arms, recognizing Trump’s prior exclusion of her followers. Donald Trump has made it apparent that he does not want the followers of Nikki Haley. In a statement, Biden added, “I want to be clear: There is a place for them in my campaign.” I am aware that we will disagree on many things. However, I think we can agree on some basic issues, including maintaining American democracy, upholding the rule of law, treating one another with respect, decency, and dignity, maintaining NATO, and confronting America’s enemies.

In the Republican primary, an organization that had pushed Democrats and independents to support Haley over Trump is now pressuring same people to support Biden in November. Primary Pivot said on Wednesday that it was “pivoting” once again with the launch of a new campaign called “Haley Voters for Biden.” In the end, this might essentially mean persuading Democrats to once again endorse their party’s most probable candidate. Haley managed to get enough support from voters with college degrees and suburbanites by continuing to run in the race until this point, highlighting Trump’s evident shortcomings with those demographics.

According to AP VoteCast polls of Republican primary and caucus participants in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina, between 61% and 76% of Haley’s followers said they wouldn’t vote for Trump in the general election in November because they would be so unhappy if he became the GOP candidate. One-third of voters in New Hampshire, 25% of voters in South Carolina, and 2 out of 10 voters in Iowa were among the tiny but noteworthy group of voters who expressed their intention to abstain from voting for Trump in the fall during the early Republican head-to-head elections.

As the first female winner of a Republican primary, Haley makes history by exiting the 2024 presidential election. On Sunday in the District of Columbia and Tuesday in Vermont, she defeated Trump. She has traveled the nation campaigning in places where there were Republican races, certain that she would remain in the race until Super Tuesday. She ultimately failed to stop Trump from cruising toward a third consecutive nomination.

Haley’s supporters point out that by going as far as she went, she defied most expectations in the political community. At first, she had said that she would not challenge Trump in 2024. However, she eventually had second thoughts and announced her campaign three months after he did, citing the need for “generational change” and the nation’s economic difficulties among other factors. After that, Haley, 52, demanded that lawmakers over 75 pass competence tests—a jab at 77-year-old Trump and 81-year-old Biden.