Haley says she’s ‘not going anywhere’ after Nevada primary loss

GOP presidential candidate and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley maintained she is “not going anywhere,” despite a primary loss in Nevada earlier this this week.

Haley lost the Silver State primary to “none of these candidates” Tuesday evening, a significant blow to her campaign’s momentum as former President Trump — the GOP front-runner — was not even on the ballot. Despite the loss, Haley vowed at a Wednesday campaign event in Los Angeles that she would stay in the race.

“I’m not going anywhere. I’m in this for the long haul,” Haley said without mentioning the Nevada loss. “And this is going to be messy. And this is going to hurt, and it’s going to leave some bruises.”

There were no delegates at stake in Tuesday’s election. Instead, all 26 of Nevada’s GOP delegates will be up for grabs in Thursday’s caucuses, which Trump is expected to win.

Haley and Trump are the only two major candidates remaining in the Republican primary race. After losses in Iowa and New Hampshire, Haley is still trying to pull off a strong showing in South Carolina, her home state, later this month and in the Super Tuesday races in March.

Polling averages from The Hill/Decision Desk HQ show the former president leading Haley in the Palmetto State 61.2 percent to 30.3 percent. The state’s primary will be Feb. 24.

The former governor’s campaign has argued she would perform better in a head-to-head match-up with President Biden, the likely Democratic candidate, in November’s election than Trump. She has also criticized both of their ages and has continued to push for mental competency tests.

“Do we really want a country in disarray and a world on fire and have our two candidates be in their 80s?” she said at the rally. ” We need to have someone who can put in eight years to get the job done and get our country back on track.”

California’s primary is not until Super Tuesday, which is March 5.

According to The Hill/Decision Desk HQ polling average of the California GOP primary, Haley is significantly trailing Trump with just nearly 16 percent of support. Trump has nearly a 50-point lead over the former United Nations ambassador with about 65 percent of support, according to the average.