


After an altogether disastrous Super Tuesday showing and with the big money interests already disengaged, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley announced she would end her run for the White House on Wednesday.
Haley made the announcement from her campaign headquarters in South Carolina during a 10 a.m. press conference, though her departure was rumored for hours beforehand after sources close to her campaign let the information slip first thing in the morning.
“The time is now come to suspend my campaign,” she said from Charleston. “I have no regrets.”
Haley did not immediately endorse the only remaining Republican candidate, but instead congratulated and encouraged him to make room under the conservative tent for the voters who supported her campaign and who feel left behind by the MAGA faithful.
“We must bind together as Americans,” she said.
The former South Carolina governor’s departure marks the end of a primary race apparently decided the moment former President Donald Trump chose to attempt a second try at a second term. Candidate after candidate thought they might, through imitation or direct confrontation, topple Trump from his towering perch atop Republican politics, only to find the 45th President’s base unpersuaded by their acts or barbs.
If polling is any guide, Trump was never in any real danger of losing the primary in a party he’s dominated since 2016.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis came closest to outperforming him in pre-election surveys — at one point he was averaging within single digits of the former president — but his Trump-lite routine never stuck with voters and he entered the Iowa caucus far behind. He ended his campaign soon after and endorsed Trump ahead of the New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation Republican primary.
Trump’s campaign was quick to hail Haley’s departure, issuing congratulations to the 45th President even before his former top diplomat made the suspension official.
“Congratulations to President Donald Trump for vanquishing his opponents in record time. The same movement that powered President Trump to a primary victory will power him to a general election victory. Voters are eager to have the prosperity and safety of the Trump presidency restored,” Taylor Budowich, CEO of Make America Great Again Inc., said in a statement.
The Super Tuesday results were not the only signs that Haley was going to have to eventually end her campaign and make way for a Trump to take on President Joe Biden again. Support from Charles Koch backed super PAC Americans For Prosperity, which threw its weight behind Haley in November, ended after she failed to win the party primary in her home state of South Carolina.