Despite months of less than promising polling and pressure from the “political elite,” former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley said she will not end her run for the White House until the race is finished.
Haley delivered a defiant address during a Tuesday afternoon event her campaign dubbed a “State of the Race” speech, declaring the Republican primary contest far from over.
“I refuse to quit. South Carolina will vote on Saturday. But on Sunday, I’ll still be running for president. I’m not going anywhere. I’m campaigning every day, until the last person votes, because I believe in a better America and a brighter future for our kids,” she said from Clemson University’s Greenville campus.
Only three states have held a party primary or caucus thus far, Haley noted, though she didn’t win any of them. South Carolina’s primary this weekend will make four, she pointed out. Polling suggests she will lose that race as well, despite serving two terms as the state’s governor.
In response to calls for her to end the race and throw her support behind Trump’s run against Biden, Haley said that voters in the dozens of states who have yet to cast a ballot should have their say in who takes on the 46th President in November.
“In the 10 days after South Carolina, another 21 states and territories will vote. People have a right to have their voices heard. And they deserve a real choice, not a Soviet-style election where there’s only one candidate and he gets 99% of the vote. We don’t anoint kings in this country. We have elections. And Donald Trump, of all people, should know we don’t rig elections,” she said.
Haley acknowledged that many of those in attendance or watching her address from elsewhere were probably wondering if they were about to witness the end of the 2024 Republican primary.
“Some of you—perhaps a few of you in the media—came here today to see if I’m dropping out of the race. Well, I’m not. Far from it. And I’m here to tell you why,” she said.
If she were to leave the race, she claimed, the country would be faced with the “longest general election in history.” Voters do not want to see another match-up between Biden and Trump, the former ambassador said.
“We have two hugely flawed candidates in Biden and Trump. Americans know it. They’ve been saying it for years. And we all know why. Trump and Biden are two old men who are only getting older,” she said. “We’ve all seen them fumble their words and get confused about world leaders. That’s not who you want in the Oval Office when Russia launches a nuclear weapon at our satellites or China shuts down our electricity grid.”
Haley visibly choked up toward the end of her address when the subject turned to her deployed husband, U.S. Army Maj. Michael Haley. His military service and the impact it has on her family have been a feature of her stump speeches for months, but more so lately after Trump questioned his absence from the campaign trail.
“As I prepare for what lies ahead, Michael is at the front of my mind,” she said, before she was clearly overcome with emotion. The audience broke into applause as she tried to recover and paused for a drink of water.
“I wish Michael was here today, and I wish our children and I could see him tonight. But we can’t,” she said.
Trump’s campaign responded to Haley’s speech by releasing a list of 182 current or former South Carolina elected officials that have apparently endorsed the 45th President’s second bid for a second term.
