Nikki Haley says she’ll stay in the race until Super Tuesday no matter what happens in South Carolina.
Former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley admitted that she needs to achieve a better showing in South Carolina than she did in New Hampshire to keep her campaign going.
Ms. Haley is the only prominent challenger to former President Donald Trump still in the race, despite having lost both previous contests by double-digit margins.
In Iowa, Ms. Haley came in third with less than 20 percent support. President Trump won 51 percent of the vote in the same contest.
Ms. Haley nevertheless declared the race a two-person one following that third-place finish, despite Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis having still been in the race at the time.
In New Hampshire, with most other contenders out of play, Ms. Haley did significantly better, achieving 43.2 percent of the vote—though roughly 70 percent of that tally came from non-Republicans. President Trump again defeated Ms. Haley by double-digit margins.
In spite of her lackluster early showings, Ms. Haley has remained in the race, emphasizing that she’s designing her campaign around building momentum as contests continue.
Besides, Ms. Haley insists that the race is closer than pundits are letting on.
“It’s 1215 delegates to reach the nomination,” Ms. Haley told NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Jan. 28. “Donald Trump has 32. I have 17.”
Ms. Haley also said she needs to do better in South Carolina than she did in New Hampshire to remain viable—but demurred from saying that she needs to win the state.
When asked by anchor Kristen Welker, Ms. Haley was evasive.
Instead of directly answering the question, she went into a diatribe against President Trump’s South Carolina backers, including South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), and many lawmakers in the state.
Their endorsement of President Trump over her, Ms. Haley suggested, was due to lingering animosity over the actions she took to win the gubernatorial race in South Carolina and what she did afterward.
By Joseph Lord
