Haley vows to go on
As much as Trump’s team would like to shift its full focus toward Biden, one Republican rival is still standing. And at least for now, Haley is still consuming a significant amount of Trump’s attention.
The former president’s campaign unveiled a new anti-haley website on Wednesday as Trump railed against her repeatedly on social media.
“Could somebody please explain to Nikki that she lost — and lost really badly,” Trump wrote on his social media network. “She also lost Iowa, BIG, last week. They were, as certain nonfake media say, ‘CRUSHING DEFEATS.’ ”
Haley’s team vowed on Wednesday to continue fighting Trump for the GOP nomination, even with the prospect looming of an embarrassing home-state primary defeat in South Carolina on Feb. 24.
“New Hampshire is first in the nation. It is not last in the nation,” Haley declared before leaving Tuesday night. “This race is far from over. There are dozens of states left to go.”
Indeed, primary contests are scheduled in every U.S. state and territory over the next five months ahead of each party’s summertime national conventions. The earliest either Trump or Biden could clinch enough delegates to become his party’s presumptive nominee is March.
Haley’s campaign launched a new $4 million advertising campaign in South Carolina on Wednesday, describing the prospect of a Biden-trump general election as “a rematch no one wants.”
“Biden — too old. Trump — too much chaos,” the narrator says. “There’s a better choice for a better America.”
Haley was to campaign in Charleston on Wednesday evening in what her campaign said was the beginning of her “first-in-thesouth swing.” She began Wednesday by addressing Republicans via Zoom in the U.S. Virgin Islands, where caucuses on Feb. 8 will decide nine Republican delegates.
“Nikki Haley is the happy warrior,” Mark Harris, who leads the major prohaley super PAC, said Wednesday.
Harris said his organization would join the campaign in running millions of dollars in TV ads in South Carolina over the next month in addition to sending out mailers, knocking on doors and doing other outreach. As Trump seeks to expand his coalition among elected officials, Harris said Haley’s team is more focused on the voters.
“It will not be politicians, it won’t be party insiders,” Harris said. “Voters get to make this decision. That’s the beauty of American democracy.”
Early next week, Haley is scheduled to do a fundraising tour that includes stops in New York, Florida, California, Texas and South Carolina. She’s expected to continue to draw continued donor support, despite Trump’s grip on the nomination, because significant forces within the GOP do not want him to represent their party on the general election ballot.
Sen. Susan Collins, Rmaine, said she was glad Haley is staying in the race, but she’s not willing to endorse her.
“I think the more people see her particularly since she appears to be the only alternative to Donald Trump right now, the more impressed that they will be,” Collins said.
Trump’s critics openly fear that he would struggle to win in November and would drag down Republican candidates in other elections. Republicans have struggled in every national election since Trump first captured the White House in 2016.