NIKKI HALEY SUSPENDS CAMPAIGN, BUT DOES NOT ENDORSE TRUMP

By Miriam Raftery

Photo by Gage Skidmore: Nikki Haley in 2024

March 6, 2024 (San Diego) – Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley announced today that she is suspending her presidential campaign,  after losing 13 of the 14 primary races (winning only Vermont) on Super Tuesday.

Her withdrawal means former President Donald Trump is the Republican party’s presumptive nominee, with no other challengers remaining. But Haley pointedly did not endorse Trump, whom she has sharpy criticized.

In a speech this morning, Haley voiced “no regrets” adding, “I will not stop using my voice for the things I believe in.”

She called on Trump to “earn the votes of those in our party and beyond it who did not support him...“I congratulate him and wish him well. I wish anyone well who would be America’s president,” she said.

President Joe Biden praised Haley for her “courage” to run in the Republican primary, adding, “Nikki Haley was willing to speak the truth about Trump, about the chaos that always follow him, about his inability to see right from wrong, about his cowering before Vladimir Putin.”

Biden also said there is a place for Haley voters in his campaign,  despite disagreeing on some issues. But he added, “On the fundamental issues of preserving American democracy, on standing up for the rule of law, on treating each other with decency and dignity and respect, on preserving NATO and standing up to America’s adversaries, I hope and believe we can find common ground.”

Trump also invited Haley voters to back his candidacy,  while also ridiculing Haley for getting “trounced” in the primaries and falsely accusing her of taking most of her campaign contributions from Democrats. Haley served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under Trump’s administration, but has since become a vocal critic.

Haley, in her speech, quoted former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher as she advised U.S. voters, “Never just follow the crowd. Always make up your own mind.”