Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley is suspending her presidential campaign, according to multiple reports out Wednesday morning.
According to the Wall Street Journal, she will be making remarks later this morning about her campaign and the state of the race. However, she is not expected to immediately endorse former president Donald Trump.
Haley won primary contests in Washington D.C. and Vermont, falling well short of Trump in every other contest this election cycle – including in her home state of South Carolina.
Decision Desk HQ projects Nikki Haley wins the Vermont Republican Primary.#DecisionMade: 10:21pm ET
Follow results here: https://t.co/4lhyrFrWh8 pic.twitter.com/yNwEGrEvqX
— Decision Desk HQ (@DecisionDeskHQ) March 6, 2024
The former governor was the last challenger standing against Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee. She was the second candidate to declare her bid, doing so in January of last year. Trump was the first candidate to declare, doing so two months prior.
Since then, Haley has struggled to gain momentum. There was a brief surge ahead of the Iowa caucuses, but that surge did not yeild a significant victory for her, though her campaign treated her performance that night as indicative of the momentum necessary to keep going. Since then, however, she has faced increasing calls from within the Republican Party to drop out of the race.
The highlights of Haley’s race include strong debate performances early in the race against the other Republicans candidates on the stage (though Trump was not among them), a stronger-than-expected showing in Iowa (coming within points of beating Florida Governor Ron DeSantis), and winning two primaries.
With her campaign’s suspension, the way is now clear for Trump to become the nominee, though there has been little doubt that he would.
