South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley has officially pulled out of the running for the 2024 Republican presidential candidate, refusing to endorse Donald Trump.
"I am filled with the gratitude for the outpouring of support we've received from all across our great country," Haley said. "But the time has now come to just suspend my campaign."
It leaves Donald Trump running without a major rival in the Republican primaries as the controversial politician leading with 995 delegates. At the time of throwing in the towel, Haley had just 89 delegates.
Haley refused to endorse Trump, saying: "I have always been a conservative Republican, and always supported the Republican nominee, but on this question... Margaret Thatcher gave some good advice when she said 'never just follow the crowd, always make up your own mind'."
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Speaking at a press conference in Charleston, South Carolina, she said she has "no regrets" about running. Warning about the US' future she told reporters: "Our world is on fire because of America's retreat"
Her only win came from Vermont, marking her second ever victory against Trump after an unsurprising win in DC.
“It is now up to Donald Trump to earn the votes of those in our party and beyond it who did not support him. And I hope he does that,” she said. “At its best, politics is about bringing people into your cause, not turning them away. And our conservative cause badly needs more people.”
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Haley, a former South Carolina governor and former U.N. ambassador, was Trump’s first significant rival when she jumped into the race in February 2023. She spent the final phase of her campaign aggressively warning the GOP against embracing Trump, whom she argued was too consumed by chaos and personal grievance to defeat President Joe Biden in the general election.
Her departure clears Trump to focus solely on his likely rematch in November with Biden. The former president is on track to reach the necessary 1,215 delegates to clinch the Republican nomination later this month.
Haley’s defeat marks a painful, if predictable, blow to those voters, donors and Republican Party officials who opposed Trump and his fiery brand of “Make America Great Again” politics. She was especially popular among moderates and college-educated voters, constituencies that will likely play a pivotal role in the general election. It’s unclear whether Trump, who recently declared that Haley donors would be permanently banned from his movement, can ultimately unify a deeply divided party.
Trump on Tuesday night declared that the GOP was united behind him, but in a statement shortly afterward, Haley spokesperson Olivia Perez-Cubas said, “Unity is not achieved by simply claiming, ‘We’re united.’”
Writing on his Truth Social, Trump said: "Nikki Haley got TROUNCED last night, in record setting fashion, despite the fact that Democrats, for reasons unknown, are allowed to vote in Vermont, and various other Republican Primaries."