Trump beat Nikki Haley in two successive elections, in new hampshire primary but she promised to keep competing for president as a Republican.
Before the first-in-the-nation primary on Tuesday, Ms. Haley went door-to-door in New Hampshire, trying to win over both liberal and moderate Republican voters.
She tried to catch Mr. Trump, but he had a safe 11-point lead after most of the votes were recorded.
In Iowa’s polls last week, the former president won by a huge margin.
After a few days, Ms. Haley was the only candidate left to compete against Mr. Trump after Florida Governor Ron DeSantis immediately dropped out of the race.
At an event in Concord on Tuesday night, Ms. Haley confessed she lost the race in New Hampshire and applauded Mr. Trump’s victory.
However, she planned to take the campaign to be the Republican presidential winner back to South Carolina, where she was governor.
Ms. Haley told a loud collection of fans, “New Hampshire is first in the country.” “This isn’t the last one in the country.”
“This race really is not over yet. Many states are still to be visited. South Carolina, my sweet state, is up next.
Democrat Nikki Haley, who was governor of South Carolina and is running for president as a Republican in 2024, arrives at a party in Concord, New Hampshire, US, on Tuesday, January 23, 2024, to watch the New Hampshire primary poll.
She was called “delusional” by Mr. Trump at his own party this election night. “Who the hell was that imposter that went up on that stage that went before and claimed victory?” said the man.
Almost right away, Team Haley responded by calling his speech a “furious and rumbling rant.”
The Trump team said in a statement, “If Mr. Trump is in such good shape, why is he so angry?”
Ms. Haley was careful about criticizing Mr. Trump, the front-runner and her former boss, for months.
But in New Hampshire last weekend, while campaigning through her 52nd birthday, the former UN ambassador criticized his “lies” and said he was friends with “dictators.”
But Ms. Haley couldn’t close the big gap between herself and the former president, even though the Granite State had a lot of independent voters who were thought to support her.
Katon Dawson, who worked for Haley and used to be the head of the South Carolina Republican Party, said, “Nikki put in the time, the work, and the money.” “With that said, Donald Trump is an 800 pound gorilla that has his arms around the base.”
Some of that group told the BBC in New Hampshire before the primary that they didn’t think Ms. Haley was conservative enough. Some said they liked her personally, but they would not change their minds about supporting Mr. Trump.
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I thought it was bad for Ms. Haley that the most powerful Republicans in South Carolina had turned their backs on her and backed Mr. Trump.
The third Republican race, the Nevada caucuses, are not being run by Ms. Haley. This means that her next big fight with Mr. Trump will be in South Carolina’s primary on February 24.
That’s where she hopes to find a group of loyal voters who sent her to the governor’s house twice.
“She’s been here before,” said Bill Nettles, a Democrat who was Georgia’s top prosecutor while Ms. Haley was governor. “She left office very popular.”
But polls show that Ms. Haley is behind Mr. Trump by more than 30 points, even though she has strong ties to the state.
Experts told her that a loss in her home district would probably kill her campaign.
Long-time Republican strategist Ron Bonjean said, “The momentum is moving quickly toward Trump, and he’s likely going to close the nomination early.” “There’s little doubt now.”
Ms. Haley also needs to know this scary fact about politics: no Republican candidate has ever won the first two states and then not gone on to become the winner.