Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley is looking ahead to Super Tuesday and vowing to continue her fight for the Republican nomination, even after she lost her home state of South Carolina by 20 points.
Haley’s 39.5% take of the vote in Saturday’s primary somewhat defied the results predicted by the polling averages, which showed her netting under 38%, and it demonstrates that Republican voters are not entirely certain of who should lead the party going into November, according to her campaign.
“Forty percent of yet another primary electorate said they do not want a Trump-Biden rematch. That is not a small number,” her campaign said in a statement.
Haley, both in her concession speech Saturday evening and in social media postings the following day, acknowledged her lackluster performance in the state that twice elected her as governor can’t be called a victory, but she said her promise to continue campaigning still stands.
“I’m an accountant. I know 40% isn’t 50%. But I also know that 40% is not a small number. Americans deserve a choice in this election, and I have a duty to give it to them,” she wrote.
I’m an accountant. I know 40% isn’t 50%. But I also know that 40% is not a small number. Americans deserve a choice in this election, and I have a duty to give it to them. pic.twitter.com/8azXLJsaRQ
— Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) February 25, 2024
Haley has her work cut out for her if she hopes to pass former President Donald Trump in the delegate-count race ahead of the Republican National Convention scheduled for mid-July.
After losing in contests in Iowa, New Hampshire, the Virgin Islands, and South Carolina — and after inexplicably failing to even join the Nevada caucus at all — she trails the 45th President’s count 110 to 20. Polling suggest she is also way behind her former boss in Michigan, where the voters will cast their ballots on Tuesday.
That string of losses, coupled with months of Trump dominating national polls, has prompted widespread calls for her to end her presidential bid in favor of allowing the 45th President to focus his energy and money on the presumptive Democratic nominee, President Joe Biden. Those calls grew all the louder after her defeat on Saturday.
“I hope Nikki Haley will drop out and help unite the party. We need to take all of our energy and put it against Joe Biden. It’s time to gather around the man who can lead our country, and that man is Donald Trump,” U.S. Rep. Nancy Mace, of South Carolina, said via the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, echoing comments she’d made to Fox News.
I hope Nikki Haley will drop out and help unite the party. We need to take all of our energy and put it against Joe Biden. It’s time to gather around the man who can lead our country, and that man is Donald Trump. pic.twitter.com/PTcUrJYJbB
— Nancy Mace (@NancyMace) February 25, 2024
“Congratulations to President Trump for his big victory tonight in South Carolina. It’s time for Nikki Haley to drop out and unite behind our nominee,” West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey wrote.
Congratulations to President Trump for his big victory tonight in South Carolina.
It’s time for Nikki Haley to drop out and unite behind our nominee. #Trump2024 #Morrisey2024 pic.twitter.com/A1JB8qkXu4
— Patrick Morrisey (@MorriseyWV) February 25, 2024
Still, according to the candidate and her campaign, she won’t be ending the race anytime soon or leaving anything on the table ahead of Super Tuesday on March 5, when 16 additional U.S. States and territories, including Massachusetts, will cast ballots. Haley will instead “crisscross the country from the day after the South Carolina primary through Super Tuesday.”
The former diplomat has announced planned stops in Minnesota, Colorado, Utah, Virginia, North Carolina, and Washington D.C.
Haley’s team says she will be in Needham on March 2, for an evening event at the Sheraton Needham Hotel.
“As last night’s election proved, there are a huge number of voters in our Republican primaries who want an alternative. They have the right to a real choice, not a Soviet-style election with only one candidate. I am committed to giving them that choice. That’s why today, we fight on! I have no fear of Trump’s retribution” Haley wrote in a Sunday fundraising message to supporters.
Trump does not seem to see the same sort of disconnect among the Republican electorate that Haley does and on which she’s apparently hung her hopes. According to him, his five wins back-to-back demonstrate the party has already made their choice.
“I have never seen the Republican Party so unified as it is right now,” Trump declared after his win in South Carolina.
An average of national polling shows the former president isn’t just bragging when he makes that claim. He’s held a majority of party support since announcing his campaign in 2022, and as of Sunday surveys showed him holding upwards of 77% of the vote among polled Republicans.
Herald wire services contributed.
Andrew Harnik/ The Associated Press
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at a primary election night party at the South Carolina State Fairgrounds in Columbia, S.C., Saturday. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)