Former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley formally suspended her presidential campaign Wednesday and called on former President Trump to earn her supporters’ votes heading into the general election.
“It is now up to Donald Trump to earn the votes of those in our party and beyond it who did not support him, and I hope he does that,” Haley said in remarks to supporters in Charleston, S.C. “At its best, politics is about bringing people into your cause, not turning them away. And our conservative cause badly needs more people. This is now his time for choosing. “
Haley’s departure from the race came the morning after Trump won all but one of the Super Tuesday contests, bringing him closer to the nomination. Haley scored her first state win in Vermont, but Trump dominated the evening. Over the weekend, she also won Washington, D.C.’s, Republican primary.
In her remarks Wednesday, Haley emphasized the importance of party unity and congratulated Trump on his likely primary victory.
“In all likelihood, Donald Trump will be the Republican nominee when our party convention meets in July. I congratulate him and wish him well,” Haley said. “I wish anyone well who would be America’s president. Our country is too precious to let our differences divide us.”
“I have always been a conservative Republican and always supported the Republican nominee,” she continued.
While Trump did not mention Haley in his election remarks Tuesday, he took to Truth Social on Wednesday morning to criticize her as she dropped out.
“Nikki Haley got TROUNCED last night, in record setting fashion, despite the fact that Democrats, for reasons unknown, are allowed to vote in Vermont, and various other Republican Primaries,” the former president wrote.
President Biden, on the other hand, congratulated Haley on her run in a statement following her announcement.
“It takes a lot of courage to run for President – that’s especially true in today’s Republican Party, where so few dare to speak the truth about Donald Trump,” the president said. “Nikki Haley was willing to speak the truth about Trump: about the chaos that always follows him, about his inability to see right from wrong, about his cowering before Vladimir Putin.”