Former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley has suspended her campaign to become the Republican Party's presidential nominee following a new set of losses against Donald Trump on Super Tuesday.
Speaking in South Carolina, her home state, Haley thanked her supporters and congratulated Donald Trump, who is now running virtually unopposed to the nomination, but stopped short from endorsing him. Instead, she said, it was up to Trump to earn their support.
"I am filled with gratitude for the outpouring of support we've received from all across our great country. But the time has now come to suspend my campaign. I said I wanted Americans to have their voices heard. I have done that. I have no regrets," Haley said on Wednesday.
Regarding Trump, the now former candidate said that Trump will be the nominee "in all likelihood" and will be named as such at the party's convention in July. "I congratulate him and wish him well. I wish anyone well who would be America's president. Our country is too precious to let our differences divide us," said Haley.
However, she added, "it is now up to Donald Trump to earn the votes in our party and beyond it who did not support him. And I hope he does that."
President Joe Biden, set to be Trump's opponent in a reedition of the 2020 presidential elections, issued a statement of his own shortly after Haley dropped out. "Donald Trump made it clear he doesn't want Nikki Haley's supporters. I want to be clear: There is a place for them in my campaign," reads a passage of the statement.
"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. 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," it added.
Trump's reaction also came out minutes after Haley's statement. In a post on his social media, Truth Social, Trump said his opponent got "trounced."
"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. Much of her money came from Radical Left Democrats, as did many of her voters, almost 50%, according to the polls," Trump posted.
He was making a reference to the fact that Haley won the Republican primaries in Vermont, a state that does not have party registration and where all voters can choose which primary to take part in.
"At this point, I hope she stays in the 'race' and fights it out until the end! I'd like to thank my family, friends, and the Great Republican Party for helping me to produce, by far, the most successful Super Tuesday in history, and would further like to invite all of the Haley supporters to join the greatest movement in the history of our Nation," Trump's post added.
Both Trump and Biden are now set to vie for Haley's more moderate Republican voters, as they could help tip the scale in the November elections. Biden campaign communications director Michael Tyler told CNN on Wednesday that there is a "home" for Haley voters in the Democratic party.
Haley voters "agreed with Nikki Haley when she stood up to Trump for the chaos, the division, the extremism that he represents," he added.
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