Nikki Haley Vows to Stay in 2024 Race Regardless of South Carolina Primary

(Bloomberg) -- Nikki Haley vowed to stay in the Republican presidential race against Donald Trump regardless of the outcome of Saturday’s South Carolina primary, saying she would not buckle to pressure from the former president and his allies.

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“I feel no need to kiss the ring. And I have no fear of Trump’s retribution. I’m not looking for anything from him. My own political future is of zero concern,” Haley said Tuesday at a rally in Greenville, South Carolina — an event billed by her campaign as a major address on the state of the GOP race.

In her speech, Haley laid out the case against Trump, in an almost last-ditch effort to sway voters, and laid out the rationale for her candidacy with the primary contest slipping out of her control and Trump poised to deliver a large defeat to his last major challenger.

Haley said that if she dropped out now, voters would be subject to an exhausting general election contest between Trump and President Joe Biden — one for which many Americans have shown little appetite.

“There would be widespread reports of Americans suffering from a bad case of ‘Biden-Trump fatigue.’ And it would be true,” Haley said. “A stunning 70% of the country doesn’t want a Biden-Trump rematch. The majority of Americans don’t just dislike one candidate. They dislike both.”

Haley noted speculation that she might use the speech to announce that she was dropping out. “Well I’m not,” she said. “Far from it and I’m here to tell you why.”

And she said she was not staying in the race in hopes of being selected as Trump’s running mate. The former president has previously said he has ruled out Haley.

Haley’s speech, where she spent roughly equal time criticizing Trump and Biden, comes with her campaign in precarious position ahead of South Carolina. Polls show Trump leading her ahead of the primary by more than 25 percentage points in her home state, as he looks to deliver a knockout blow following commanding victories in Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada.

Primary Calendar

Earlier Tuesday, Haley told the Associated Press she intends to compete until at least Super Tuesday on March 5, when more than a dozen states hold their primaries.

“We’ve all heard the calls for me to drop out. We all know where they’re coming from. The political elite. The party bosses. Their cheerleaders in the commentator world,” Haley said in her speech. “They say I haven’t won a state. That my path to victory is slim. They point to the primary polls and say I’m only delaying the inevitable.”

Haley noted that only three states have voted so far and said that in the 10 days after South Carolina, another 21 states and territories would vote.

Haley has been on a fundraising blitz to raise money from deep-pocketed executives and business leaders eager for an alternative to a Trump rematch with President Joe Biden in November. In recent weeks, she has sharpened her criticism of Trump, telling Republicans that the former president’s legal difficulties and string of political setbacks will only set the stage for more crushing defeats. Those attacks, though, have failed to dent the GOP frontrunner’s lead.

Haley choked up during her address, speaking about her husband — a National Guardsman who is deployed — defending him from attacks from Trump who has questioned why he is not on the campaign trail with his wife.

“The kids and I know why Michael went. He stepped up to keep us safe — and not just us. He stepped up to defend our nation’s freedom and our way of life,” she said.

Trump Clash

Trump has flexed his grip over the party, pressuring congressional Republicans to kill a bipartisan deal that would have tightened border security to deal with a migrant crisis on the US-Mexico border and tap new funding for Ukraine to aid Kyiv at a crucial point in its war against Russia’s invasion.

And he’s moved to increase his control over the party’s campaign apparatus, endorsing his daughter-in-law Lara Trump as a Republican National Committee co-chair with current Chair Ronna McDaniel in discussions to step down.

Still, Trump faces a slew of expensive civil and criminal legal cases, covering 91 felony counts, that threaten to strain his resources and divert his attention just as the general election campaign ramps up. His first criminal trial, in a case stemming from alleged hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels, is set to start on March 25.

Haley has cast Trump’s legal woes and controversies as a recipe for “chaos” — that threatens to undermine GOP efforts to oust Biden.

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