Cruz predicts Haley will drop out 18 hours after South Carolina primary

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) predicted the GOP primary race will effectively “end in South Carolina” with a win for former President Trump that will prompt his main primary challenger, Nikki Haley, to drop out.

Pointing to Trump’s victory Tuesday in New Hampshire — where he beat Haley by nearly 11 points — Cruz said it is “clear” Trump will be the eventual GOP presidential nominee.

“New Hampshire was Nikki’s last stance. She put everything in, she had every moderate, every ‘never Trumper’ billionaire behind her and she lost. She lost by 11 points,” Cruz said Wednesday during an interview on Fox News’s “The Ingraham Angle.” “Trump … won decisively in New Hampshire. He is the nominee.”

The Texas senator predicted Haley, a former South Carolina governor, would remain in the race “because she’s got money.” Haley maintained Tuesday she intends to stay in the race as she looks toward her home state of South Carolina, which will hold its primary at the end of February.

“She’s got lots of people writing her checks that hate Donald Trump, but this race will end in South Carolina,” Cruz said. “Trump’s gonna win, he’s not just gonna win by a little bit. He’s gonna win by double digits, it could be a 30-point victory like Iowa.”

“My prediction right now is Nikki will drop out 18 hours after South Carolina. After that, you cannot go on,” he added.

Trump currently has a more than 33-point lead over Haley in the Palmetto State, according to a polling index by The Hill and Decision Desk HQ.

Cruz endorsed Trump’s White House bid earlier this month following Trump’s win in the Iowa caucuses, in which the former president led his rivals by nearly 30 points. He is among at least 23 other U.S. senators who have endorsed the former president’s reelection campaign.

Cruz endorsed Trump in the 2020 election and in 2016 after dropping his own presidential bid during the primaries.

Trump received a series of endorsements from South Carolina politicians, including Gov. Henry McMaster, who served as lieutenant governor under Haley, and Sen. Tim Scott (S.C.), who dropped out of the GOP primary race in November.