Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley was noticeably absent from the Super Tuesday limelight. The candidate has no plans to address supporters Tuesday evening. Her absence has raised more than a few eyebrows as former President Donald Trump was busy clinching early victories.
Naturally, Haley’s decision to lay low has prompted speculation about the future of her campaign. Is it time for her to pack it in and go home, or does she still plan to remain in the race?
Nikki Haley laid low on Super Tuesday facing a potential onslaught by Donald Trump as the first votes came in showing her losing to her rival in Virginia and North Carolina.
Haley was hunkered down in her home state of South Carolina while millions of Americans went to the polls.
Her campaign sent out no information on any kind of plans to address supporters while the results came in, even as Trump, who has declared the race all but over and invited hundreds of supporters to his Mar-a-Lago private Florida club.
The Virginia loss deprived Haley of one of the 15 states up for grabs on Tuesday where she had something approaching a shot.
And exit poll information described an electorate that could be open to a candidate like Haley: 72 per cent suburban, majority college educated, and less committed to ‘MAGA’ than neighboring North Carolina.
The only information on her whereabouts came from a public comment by Haley in a TV interview that she would be in her home state on Super Tuesday.
What is telling about this story is that Haley not only stayed home during Super Tuesday, but her campaign has also not yet communicated with the press about her future plans, which could signal an end to her candidacy.
After a humiliating defeat in South Carolina, Haley’s home state, it was expected that she would end her bid for the GOP nomination. However, during a Fox News interview, she indicated that she planned to keep campaigning. “As much as everybody wants to go and push me out, I’m not ready to get out yet. I’m still sitting there fighting for the people that want a voice, so they deserve that,” she said.
Haley also made headlines when she refused to commit to endorsing Trump if he won the nomination.
On Sunday, GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley appeared on NBC’s “Meet the Press” and said that she was “no longer bound” by the pledge the GOP primary candidates made to the RNC to endorse and support the eventual nominee. Her reasons for breaking that commitment were… interesting.
Asked by NBC News’ “Meet the Press” moderator Kristen Welker, “So you’re no longer bound by that pledge?” Haley responded that she was not obligated to endorse former President Donald Trump if he becomes the Republican nominee.
“No, I think I’ll make what decision I want to make, but that’s not something I’m thinking about,” she said, noting that “if you talk about an endorsement, you’re talking about a loss. I don’t think like that.”
She added, “When you’re in a race, you don’t think about losing. You think about continuing to go forward.”
Haley’s future on the campaign trail is not yet certain. But one thing is clear: Barring some wild development, the GOP nomination is Trump’s to lose.
