NORTH CHARLESTON, South Carolina, USA. —
Having lost the Iowa and New Hampshire primaries to Donald Trump, Nikki Haley is still trying to frame those losses as a victory and has vowed to avoid a “coronation” of Trump as the Republican Party’s nominee in 2024.
However, the path through subsequent primaries in other states might not be any easier.
“The political class wanted us to believe this race was over before it even started,” Haley posted on social media site . “You proved them wrong, and I am so grateful.”
Haley did have a better performance in Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary than she did in the Iowa caucuses the previous week, where she finished in third place, well behind Trump and slightly below Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who since then he abandoned his campaign.
But Haley had been counting on robust support in New Hampshire, a state where her attempt to appeal to independents and more moderate Republicans seemed to have an effect. Trump still won by double digits Tuesday night, leading some to question whether Haley would remain in the race.
During a virtual conversation with Republican voters in the US Virgin Islands – which hold their caucuses on February 8 – the former US ambassador to the UN said she will continue ahead, before leaving New Hampshire for South Carolina, where she planned hold a rally at night.
The event serves two purposes for Haley: it’s a meet-and-greet for a South Carolina resident and the inauguration of her campaign in the first southern state in the country to hold its Republican primary, which has historically been influential at the time. to determine the party’s candidate. Since 1980, only one winner of the Republican primary in South Carolina has lost the nomination.
Since Trump’s victory there in the 2016 primary helped cement his dominance in that year’s race, South Carolina has remained loyal to him. For the 2024 campaign, Trump has the support of all but one of the state’s Republicans in the federal House of Representatives, as well as the governor, the lieutenant governor and both federal senators.
“Trump is in a dominant position in South Carolina,” one of those senators, Lindsey Graham, said Wednesday at the U.S. Capitol, praising Haley’s work but predicting her defeat in her home state. “I think for all practical purposes, the primaries are over.”
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Thomas Beaumont in Des Moines, Iowa, and Rick Gentilo in Washington contributed to this report.
