Nikki Haley quits race, clearing way for Trump
Nikki Haley has suspended her US presidential campaign after being soundly defeated across the country in a series of primary elections on Super Tuesday, sources said.
The move leaves former president Donald Trump as the last remaining major candidate for the 2024 Republican nomination.
She made her announcement in her home state of South Carolina yesterday afternoon.
“I said I wanted Americans to have their voices heard. I have done that. I have no regrets,” Ms Haley said in Charleston. “And although I will no longer be a candidate, I will not stop using my voice for the things I believe in.”
She also congratulated Mr Trump on probably becoming the Republican nominee and said she wished him well, but stopped short of endorsing him, instead urging him to earn the support of Republicans and independent voters who backed her.
Ms Haley, a former South Carolina governor and UN ambassador, was Mr Trump's first significant rival when she jumped into the race in February 2023.
She spent the final phase of her campaign aggressively warning the Republicans against embracing Mr Trump, whom she argued was too consumed by chaos and personal grievance to defeat President Joe Biden in the general election.
Her departure clears Mr Trump to focus solely on his likely rematch in November with Mr Biden. The former president is on track to reach the necessary 1,215 delegates to clinch the Republican nomination later this month.
Ms Haley's defeat marks a painful, if predictable, blow to those voters, donors and Republican Party officials who opposed Mr Trump and his fiery brand of "Make America Great Again" politics.
She was especially popular among moderates and college-educated voters, constituencies likely to play a pivotal role in the general election. It is unclear whether Mr Trump, who recently declared that Ms Haley's donors would be permanently banned from his movement, can ultimately unify a deeply divided party.
Ms Haley leaves the 2024 presidential contest having made history as the first woman to win a Republican primary. She beat Mr Trump in the District of Columbia on Sunday and Vermont on Tuesday.
She had insisted she would stay in the race through Super Tuesday and crossed the country campaigning in states holding Republican contests.
Ultimately, she was unable to knock Mr Trump off his path to a third straight nomination.
President Joe Biden and Mr Trump romped through more than a dozen states on Super Tuesday, all but cementing a rematch in November's presidential election.
Their victories from coast to coast, including the delegaterich states of California and Texas, left little doubt about the trajectory of the race.
Ms Haley won Vermont, denying Mr Trump a full sweep, but the former president carried other states that might have been favourable to her such as Virginia, Massachusetts and Maine, which have large swathes of moderate voters.