Evening Report — Haley fights on, extending Trump battle

by TheHill.com - 02/20/24 4:54 PM ET

Evening Report

Haley fights on, extending Trump battle

Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley says she isn’t ending her long-shot bid for the GOP presidential nomination, despite her lagging behind former President Trump.

“I’ll keep going until the American people close the door,” she said at an event Tuesday, just days before her home state Republicans head to the polls. “I’ll campaign until the last person votes.”

In an interview with The Associated Press, Haley said she’d stay in the race until at least Super Tuesday, March 5, and would not drop out after the South Carolina primary on Feb. 24, regardless of the results. One U.S. territory and 15 states will vote on Super Tuesday, just 10 days after the South Carolina primary.

Haley trails Trump in South Carolina by 23 points, according to the latest Emerson College Polling/The Hill survey released Tuesday.

Haley, the last Trump rival standing and a one-time political appointee of the former president, said during her address Tuesday that she won’t “kiss the ring” and kowtow to Trump, insinuating that his allies are afraid of angering him.

“I have no fear of Trump’s retribution,” she said. “I’m not looking for anything from him.”

Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung responded by predicting Haley would “kiss a–” to Trump when she drops her election bid.

“She’s going to drop down to kiss a– when she quits, like she always does,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

Sen. Tim Scott, a fellow South Carolinian Republican appointed to the Senate a decade ago by Haley, said she should call it quits. Scott, a former GOP presidential candidate, dropped out of the race in November and endorsed Trump.

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