Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley ended her campaign for the Republican presidential nomination Wednesday after suffering a crushing defeat by former President Trump in the Super Tuesday primaries.
Ms. Haley, 52, announced her exit from the race from Charleston. She did not endorse Mr. Trump, but wished him well.
After criticizing Mr. Trump for months on the campaign trail as a chaotic candidate who alienated Republican and independent voters, Ms. Haley called on him to “earn the votes of those in our party and beyond it who did not support him,” and said “our conservative cause badly needs more people.”
She called on Americans to “bind together” and “turn away from the darkness and hatred and division,” and pledged to “continue to promote all of those values, as is the right of every American.”
Ms. Haley said in past interviews she is not interested in serving as Mr. Trump’s vice president and pledged not to run as a third-party candidate, though she might remain relevant in future political cycles.
A former U.S. ambassador for the U.N., she was the last candidate standing between Mr. Trump and the GOP nomination, though her slim chances of catching Mr. Trump evaporated Tuesday when the ex-president gobbled up delegates in more than a dozen primary races.
SEE ALSO: Trump, Biden hurtle toward rematch as ex-president dominates Super Tuesday
Mr. Trump is on pace to reach the 1,215 delegates he needs to secure the nomination by March 19.
His front-runner status was never in doubt after romping to early victories in Iowa, New Hampshire and Ms. Haley’s home state of South Carolina, forcing other GOP challengers to drop out.
Yet Ms. Haley stuck around, saying the U.S. doesn’t do “coronations” and that Republican voters deserved an alternative to Mr. Trump, who faces four separate criminal prosecutions.
She cast doubt on Mr. Trump’s ability to win a general election and said the U.S. needed a new generation of leaders instead of Mr. Trump, 77, and Mr. Biden, who is 81.
Ms. Haley gained traction with centrists and college-educated GOP voters, but could not win over the loyal MAGA base. Many of her voters in open primaries were likely Democrats who sought to exclude Mr. Trump from the general election ballot but who planned to ultimately vote for Mr. Biden in November.
Ms. Haley did not endorse Trump as she exited the race Wednesday and her campaign staff remained prickly about the former president’s campaign after his big Super Tuesday win.
SEE ALSO: Trump makes fun of Haley as she drops out of race, calls on her supporters to join him
“Unity is not achieved by simply claiming ’we’re united,” Haley national spokeswoman Olivia Perez-Cubas said late Tuesday. “In state after state, there remains a large block of Republican primary voters who are expressing deep concerns about Donald Trump. That is not the unity our party needs for success. Addressing those voters’ concerns will make the Republican Party and America better.”
Ms. Haley initially said she would not challenge Mr. Trump but changed her mind and hopped into the presidential primary in early 2023.
After the remaining GOP candidates dropped out in New Hampshire in January, she boasted about becoming the only surviving candidate of what was once a field of more than one dozen Republican hopefuls.
She outlasted Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, once considered a top contender, after he failed to peel away Trump loyalists while Ms. Haley appealed to a broader coalition of “Never Trump” voters in the GOP.
Headlines around the war in Gaza and other foreign policy issues worked in her favor, too, and she made history by becoming the first woman to win GOP primaries. She won in D.C. on Sunday and Vermont on Tuesday.
Yet she never showed signs she could rack up enough delegates to become truly competitive against Mr. Trump in his quest for a second term.
• Susan Ferrechio can be reached at sferrechio@washingtontimes.com.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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