Analysis: Why DeSantis’ departure from the race isn’t likely to change the dynamic between Trump and Haley
From CNN's Ronald Brownstein
And then there was one.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ withdrawal from the GOP presidential race Sunday placed former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley in the kind of one-on-one match-up with Donald Trump that his Republican opponents have been thirsting for since the 2016 primary race. But even that looks unlikely to slow the former president’s march to his third consecutive GOP nomination.
DeSantis’ support in New Hampshire and South Carolina – the most important next states on the calendar – had dwindled to the point where his exit isn’t likely to significantly change the balance between Trump and Haley in those contests.
The real impact of DeSantis’ decision to quit may be that his endorsement of Trump – whom he had criticized with growing ferocity in the past few weeks – may reinforce the signal that almost all of the GOP leadership wants to wrap up the race so the party can focus on the general election against President Joe Biden. That message has already been sent by the quickening procession of GOP senators and governors who have endorsed Trump in the past few weeks.
If Haley doesn’t win New Hampshire, the chorus of Republicans demanding that she concede to Trump may grow deafening. The dynamic is reminiscent of the rapid coalescing behind Biden in the 2020 Democratic race, which abruptly ended the contest just days after he recovered from dismal showings in Iowa and New Hampshire to win the South Carolina primary.
What voters in New Hampshire are saying about Haley and Trump ahead of tomorrow's primary
From CNN's Arit John and Jeff Zeleny in Hollis, New Hampshire
Danielle Brown voted for John McCain in the 2000 New Hampshire Republican primary and for Barack Obama in the Democratic primary eight years later. On Tuesday, she intends to back former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley to send a clear message to both parties.
“We need to have some new ideas and a new, younger generation coming in,” Brown, an undeclared voter, said as she clutched a Haley 2024 yard sign freshly autographed by the candidate. “Haley is energized. I think she can do a lot for our country.”
Brown is a voter stuck in the middle, one of thousands of undeclared and independent residents who make up a plurality of the Granite State’s electorate and a critical part of Haley’s coalition. Her chances in New Hampshire – and by extension, the fate of her campaign – likely hinge on how many independents vote for her in the state’s primary Tuesday.
As of Friday, 344,335 voters in New Hampshire were registered as undeclared, making up nearly 40% of the electorate.
Haley’s campaign is targeting Republicans and undeclared voters from the suburbs to the seacoast, advisers said, particularly in precincts where Trump underperformed other Republicans, such as Gov. Chris Sununu. Though former President Donald Trump won the 2016 New Hampshire GOP primary, he lost the state in the general election in both 2016 and 2020.
It's "highly unlikely" DeSantis would be picked for vice president or Cabinet position, Trump says
From CNN's Kate Sullivan
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis at a campaign stop at LaBelle Winery on Wednesday January 17 in Derry, NH. Matt McClain/The Washington Post/Getty Images
Former President Donald Trump said in an interview aired Monday he thought it was “highly unlikely” he would pick Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as his running mate should he win the nomination — or for a Cabinet position if elected in November.
“Well, it’s probably unlikely, but, you know, I have to be honest, everything’s a possibility but I think it’s highly unlikely. I have a lot of great people,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News.
Trump noted he and DeSantis, who dropped out of the presidential race on Sunday and backed Trump, have similar policy stances, and predicted many of the supporters of the Florida governor would vote for Trump.
“A lot of the things that he wanted, I wanted," he said.
The former president added that he was "honored" he endorsed him "this quickly".
"I mean, it's not easy. Look, it's not easy. He fought hard. Spent a lot of money. And a lot of people thought he’d do well," the former president added.
26 min ago
Judge Judy's endorsement of Haley in stark contrast to lawmakers increasingly backing Trump
From CNN's Kylie Atwood
Republican presidential candidate former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, left, walks to embrace Judge Judy Sheindlin, right, during a campaign event Exeter High School in Exeter, N.H., Sunday, Jan. 21. Matt Rourke/AP
Nikki Haley’s endorsement from Judge Judy Sheindlin on Sunday night presented a stark contrast to the lawmakers who are increasingly lining up to endorse former President Donald Trump.
After spending days pouring cold water on those endorsements – with her campaign saying they would not focus on racking up endorsements that don’t matter — Haley celebrated Judy’s endorsement. The former South Carolina governor made the case that this was an endorsement with a real impact.
“How cool is it to have Judge Judy endorse you? It really is. She is a trailblazer, she is tough. She speaks hard truths,” Haley said. “I will tell you for all of those endorsements you talk about those are the endorsements that matter. The ones where they're going to tell you the truth, even if you don't want to hear it. And they're going to tell you why. And it's a combination of brains and heart.”
Sheindlin said she reached out to Haley a few months ago to get to know her after spending about 70 years being “pretty a-political.” But now she is wondering about the future of the US, she told the New Hampshire voters.
Sheindlin said that the country is at a “crossroads” and finding the right candidate in 2024 is “probably the hardest decision that all of us are going to have to make in our current history.” She went on to say that Haley “has to be that candidate.”
Haley’s event with Sheindlin on Sunday night came just hours after Haley rebuked the “political elites” for banding together “against the people,” in an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis backed Trump as he dropped out of the presidential race. And just on Friday night Trump surrounded himself on stage in New Hampshire with South Carolinian lawmakers who were backing his presidential bid. Haley has made the case that she won’t get the endorsements of the politicians in Washington, DC, or South Carolina because of her policy positions that they don’t like.
53 min ago
Analysis: New Hampshire could well answer the GOP’s existential question
From CNN's Stephen Collinson
“Can you hear that sound?” a jubilant Nikki Haley asked a jazzed-up crowd as she strode onstage Sunday night.
“That’s the sound of a two-person race.”
The former South Carolina governor had just got what she wanted for months – a one-on-one clash with Donald Trump for the Republican nomination.
But she must still prove she can make a head-to-head duel with the ex-president last through Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary and beyond, after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis suddenly shelved his White House bid.
Trump’s critics have long argued that if he ever faced a one-on-one fight for the Republican nomination against a single candidate who united all the party’s opposition against him, he’d lose. The theory is about to be put to its ultimate test.
Haley will never have a better chance than in New Hampshire, among an electorate in which moderate and independent voters play a crucial role, to beat Trump in a single contest and to prove she can mount a nationwide challenge against him.
Trump’s lead over Haley widens to double digits in New Hampshire ahead of primary, CNN poll shows
From CNN's Jennifer Agiesta
Former President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally in Rochester, New Hampshire, on January 21. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
The race for the New Hampshire Republican presidential primary appears to be former President Donald Trump’s to lose, according to a new CNN poll conducted by the University of New Hampshire following Trump’s 30-point win in Iowa’s caucuses last week.
Trump holds 50% support among likely Republican primary voters in the Granite State, while his closest competitor, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, stands at 39%. Both have gained supporters since the last CNN/UNH poll in early January – when Trump held 39% to Haley’s 32% – as the field of major contenders has shrunk. Both Trump and Haley now hold their highest level of support in UNH polling on the race since 2021. But Haley’s sharp gains since late last summer have not been enough to catch Trump, as the gap between them has once again widened to double digits.
Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley speaks during a campaign event in Newmarket, New Hampshire, on January 21. Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Sunday that he is ending his White House bid and endorsing the former president. He stood at just 6% in the poll, below the 10% minimum support he would need to win delegates there per the Republican Party’s rules.
For Trump’s opponents, New Hampshire has long appeared to be the place in the early primary calendar that offered the best shot at knocking him off track in his bid for a third straight GOP presidential nomination. It was the only early state where polls consistently found Trump without majority support, and where voters often showed the most openness to his rivals. But this latest survey suggests that Trump’s popularity within the GOP base and the commitment of his supporters outweigh the appeal of his challengers.
Reproductive rights are front and center of the Biden campaign as it plans to tie Trump to abortion bans
From CNN's Arlette Saenz
The Biden campaign will hit the airwaves in battleground states with the ad, as it launches a full-court press this week to put abortion rights front and center in the 2024 race. There will also be events headlined by President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
A central issue for the Biden campaign: The push marks the campaign’s first organized effort to emphasize the issue, seeking to further galvanize voters around reproductive rights in the first presidential election after the Supreme Court ended the federal constitutional right to an abortion.
Leaning into personal stories: “Two years ago, I became pregnant with a baby I desperately wanted. At a routine ultrasound, I learned that the fetus would have a fatal condition and that there was absolutely no chance of survival.
“In Texas, you are forced to carry that pregnancy, and that is because of Donald Trump overturning Roe v. Wade."
That's the testimony from Dr. Austin Dennard, a Texas OB-GYN and mother who traveled out of her state, which has a strict abortion ban, to terminate her pregnancy.
Dennard calls the situation “every woman’s worst nightmare” and criticizes Trump for the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Her emotional testimony is at the center of a minutelong ad made by the Biden campaign, titled "Forced".
Read up on the Biden campaign's focus on reproductive rights.
Two-person GOP race: RepublicancandidatesDonald Trump and Nikki Haley are making their final appeals to New Hampshire voters with just one day until the state's pivotal 2024 primary contest. Ron DeSantis endorsed the former president after ending his campaign on Sunday.
Escalating attacks: Trump has ramped up attacks against his former UN ambassador as he seeks to deliver a knockout blow in the state. Trump’s lead over Haley has widened in New Hampshire, polls show, but he faces a tougher race against her there as it remains to be seen who independent voters will back.
Biden focuses on reproductive rights: On the Democratic side,President Joe Biden's campaign is putting abortion rights front and center in the race with events this week as he prepares for a potential rematch with Trump in November.
Trump juggles campaign and courtroom: Meanwhile, Trump is expected to attend his E. Jean Carroll defamation trial as he balances his legal and campaign calendar.
Visit CNN's voter guide to find out how to vote in the primaries in your state.
And then there was one.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ withdrawal from the GOP presidential race Sunday placed former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley in the kind of one-on-one match-up with Donald Trump that his Republican opponents have been thirsting for since the 2016 primary race. But even that looks unlikely to slow the former president’s march to his third consecutive GOP nomination.
DeSantis’ support in New Hampshire and South Carolina – the most important next states on the calendar – had dwindled to the point where his exit isn’t likely to significantly change the balance between Trump and Haley in those contests.
The real impact of DeSantis’ decision to quit may be that his endorsement of Trump – whom he had criticized with growing ferocity in the past few weeks – may reinforce the signal that almost all of the GOP leadership wants to wrap up the race so the party can focus on the general election against President Joe Biden. That message has already been sent by the quickening procession of GOP senators and governors who have endorsed Trump in the past few weeks.
If Haley doesn’t win New Hampshire, the chorus of Republicans demanding that she concede to Trump may grow deafening. The dynamic is reminiscent of the rapid coalescing behind Biden in the 2020 Democratic race, which abruptly ended the contest just days after he recovered from dismal showings in Iowa and New Hampshire to win the South Carolina primary.
Danielle Brown voted for John McCain in the 2000 New Hampshire Republican primary and for Barack Obama in the Democratic primary eight years later. On Tuesday, she intends to back former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley to send a clear message to both parties.
“We need to have some new ideas and a new, younger generation coming in,” Brown, an undeclared voter, said as she clutched a Haley 2024 yard sign freshly autographed by the candidate. “Haley is energized. I think she can do a lot for our country.”
Brown is a voter stuck in the middle, one of thousands of undeclared and independent residents who make up a plurality of the Granite State’s electorate and a critical part of Haley’s coalition. Her chances in New Hampshire – and by extension, the fate of her campaign – likely hinge on how many independents vote for her in the state’s primary Tuesday.
As of Friday, 344,335 voters in New Hampshire were registered as undeclared, making up nearly 40% of the electorate.
Haley’s campaign is targeting Republicans and undeclared voters from the suburbs to the seacoast, advisers said, particularly in precincts where Trump underperformed other Republicans, such as Gov. Chris Sununu. Though former President Donald Trump won the 2016 New Hampshire GOP primary, he lost the state in the general election in both 2016 and 2020.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis at a campaign stop at LaBelle Winery on Wednesday January 17 in Derry, NH. Matt McClain/The Washington Post/Getty Images
Former President Donald Trump said in an interview aired Monday he thought it was “highly unlikely” he would pick Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as his running mate should he win the nomination — or for a Cabinet position if elected in November.
“Well, it’s probably unlikely, but, you know, I have to be honest, everything’s a possibility but I think it’s highly unlikely. I have a lot of great people,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News.
Trump noted he and DeSantis, who dropped out of the presidential race on Sunday and backed Trump, have similar policy stances, and predicted many of the supporters of the Florida governor would vote for Trump.
“A lot of the things that he wanted, I wanted," he said.
The former president added that he was "honored" he endorsed him "this quickly".
"I mean, it's not easy. Look, it's not easy. He fought hard. Spent a lot of money. And a lot of people thought he’d do well," the former president added.
Republican presidential candidate former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, left, walks to embrace Judge Judy Sheindlin, right, during a campaign event Exeter High School in Exeter, N.H., Sunday, Jan. 21. Matt Rourke/AP
Nikki Haley’s endorsement from Judge Judy Sheindlin on Sunday night presented a stark contrast to the lawmakers who are increasingly lining up to endorse former President Donald Trump.
After spending days pouring cold water on those endorsements – with her campaign saying they would not focus on racking up endorsements that don’t matter — Haley celebrated Judy’s endorsement. The former South Carolina governor made the case that this was an endorsement with a real impact.
“How cool is it to have Judge Judy endorse you? It really is. She is a trailblazer, she is tough. She speaks hard truths,” Haley said. “I will tell you for all of those endorsements you talk about those are the endorsements that matter. The ones where they're going to tell you the truth, even if you don't want to hear it. And they're going to tell you why. And it's a combination of brains and heart.”
Sheindlin said she reached out to Haley a few months ago to get to know her after spending about 70 years being “pretty a-political.” But now she is wondering about the future of the US, she told the New Hampshire voters.
Sheindlin said that the country is at a “crossroads” and finding the right candidate in 2024 is “probably the hardest decision that all of us are going to have to make in our current history.” She went on to say that Haley “has to be that candidate.”
Haley’s event with Sheindlin on Sunday night came just hours after Haley rebuked the “political elites” for banding together “against the people,” in an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis backed Trump as he dropped out of the presidential race. And just on Friday night Trump surrounded himself on stage in New Hampshire with South Carolinian lawmakers who were backing his presidential bid. Haley has made the case that she won’t get the endorsements of the politicians in Washington, DC, or South Carolina because of her policy positions that they don’t like.
“Can you hear that sound?” a jubilant Nikki Haley asked a jazzed-up crowd as she strode onstage Sunday night.
“That’s the sound of a two-person race.”
The former South Carolina governor had just got what she wanted for months – a one-on-one clash with Donald Trump for the Republican nomination.
But she must still prove she can make a head-to-head duel with the ex-president last through Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary and beyond, after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis suddenly shelved his White House bid.
Trump’s critics have long argued that if he ever faced a one-on-one fight for the Republican nomination against a single candidate who united all the party’s opposition against him, he’d lose. The theory is about to be put to its ultimate test.
Haley will never have a better chance than in New Hampshire, among an electorate in which moderate and independent voters play a crucial role, to beat Trump in a single contest and to prove she can mount a nationwide challenge against him.
Former President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally in Rochester, New Hampshire, on January 21. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
The race for the New Hampshire Republican presidential primary appears to be former President Donald Trump’s to lose, according to a new CNN poll conducted by the University of New Hampshire following Trump’s 30-point win in Iowa’s caucuses last week.
Trump holds 50% support among likely Republican primary voters in the Granite State, while his closest competitor, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, stands at 39%. Both have gained supporters since the last CNN/UNH poll in early January – when Trump held 39% to Haley’s 32% – as the field of major contenders has shrunk. Both Trump and Haley now hold their highest level of support in UNH polling on the race since 2021. But Haley’s sharp gains since late last summer have not been enough to catch Trump, as the gap between them has once again widened to double digits.
Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley speaks during a campaign event in Newmarket, New Hampshire, on January 21. Joe Raedle/Getty Images
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Sunday that he is ending his White House bid and endorsing the former president. He stood at just 6% in the poll, below the 10% minimum support he would need to win delegates there per the Republican Party’s rules.
For Trump’s opponents, New Hampshire has long appeared to be the place in the early primary calendar that offered the best shot at knocking him off track in his bid for a third straight GOP presidential nomination. It was the only early state where polls consistently found Trump without majority support, and where voters often showed the most openness to his rivals. But this latest survey suggests that Trump’s popularity within the GOP base and the commitment of his supporters outweigh the appeal of his challengers.
The Biden campaign will hit the airwaves in battleground states with the ad, as it launches a full-court press this week to put abortion rights front and center in the 2024 race. There will also be events headlined by President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris.
A central issue for the Biden campaign: The push marks the campaign’s first organized effort to emphasize the issue, seeking to further galvanize voters around reproductive rights in the first presidential election after the Supreme Court ended the federal constitutional right to an abortion.
Leaning into personal stories: “Two years ago, I became pregnant with a baby I desperately wanted. At a routine ultrasound, I learned that the fetus would have a fatal condition and that there was absolutely no chance of survival.
“In Texas, you are forced to carry that pregnancy, and that is because of Donald Trump overturning Roe v. Wade."
That's the testimony from Dr. Austin Dennard, a Texas OB-GYN and mother who traveled out of her state, which has a strict abortion ban, to terminate her pregnancy.
Dennard calls the situation “every woman’s worst nightmare” and criticizes Trump for the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Her emotional testimony is at the center of a minutelong ad made by the Biden campaign, titled "Forced".
Read up on the Biden campaign's focus on reproductive rights.
