Tim Scott: Haley ‘has to realize that this race is over’

Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), a surrogate for former President Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign, called on remaining GOP rival Nikki Haley to drop out of the race and join him in backing Trump.

Asked Monday by Fox News’s Kayleigh McEnany why Haley was pledging to continue to Michigan following the South Carolina primary this weekend, Scott said she needs to realize “the race is over.”

“Sometimes you wake up on Monday morning, and you realize that the race is already gone,” Scott told McEnany, who once served as Trump’s White House press secretary. “The best thing you can do is within 24 hours is to get out the way. I hope that happens.”

The South Carolina senator, who was appointed to the upper chamber by Haley when she was governor of the Palmetto State, then accused her campaign of “descending” in recent weeks.

“Listen, Nikki Haley has run the best race she could run, and, lately, her campaign has been descending, honestly,” he said in the Monday interview, highlighted my Mediaite. “It’s desperation that you feel coming from her camp, and when you feel that type of desperation, that means the race is already over.”

“Nikki Haley, herself, has to come to realization — she has to realize that this race is over. It is best for the country, not just the party,” Scott continued. “It is best for America that we focus on Joe Biden.”

Referencing Haley’s pledge to campaign in Michigan after the primary, Scott said “we’re going there either way, but we would love to have her as a part of that team.”

The senators comments come as Haley has sharpened her rhetoric in recent weeks, landing blows on Trump about as often as she has attacked President Biden.

Scott, a former Haley ally, surprised some by endorsing Trump after he suspended his own White House bid in November, but has since been one of Trump’s most effective surrogates in South Carolina.

The Hill has reached out to the Haley campaign for comment.