Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley called a major press conference on Tuesday to reaffirm her plan to stay in the 2024 presidential race, seemingly unphased by an anticipated shellacking in her home state’s upcoming primary election.
Addressing the growing calls for her to suspend her campaign in light of her failures in previous primaries, Haley defiantly pledged to continue until at least Super Tuesday, setting her sights beyond South Carolina with a massive ad buy in Michigan.
“Some of you—perhaps a few of you in the media—came here today to see if I’m dropping out of the race,” Haley said after taking the stage at Tuesday’s conference. “Well, I’m not. Far from it…I refuse to quit. South Carolina will vote on Saturday. But on Sunday, I’ll still be running for president. I’m not going anywhere.”
.@NikkiHaley: "Some of your, perhaps a few of you in the media, came here to see if I'm dropping out of the race. Well, I'm not."
Full video here: https://t.co/WJHcDqcQvb pic.twitter.com/5rs7amfORD
— CSPAN (@cspan) February 20, 2024
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As Valuetainment previously reported, a CBS News survey of South Carolina’s GOP voters found that former President Donald Trump has a 35-point lead over Haley ahead of Saturday’s primary, effectively dashing the former governor’s hopes of a home-field advantage. These poll numbers, coupled with Haley’s distant third- and second-place finishes in Iowa and New Hampshire (which were followed by a loss to the “None of These Candidates” option in Nevada), led to key donors pulling out of her campaign.
But with an eye on next month’s Super Tuesday, when delegates from more than a dozen states will be up for grabs on a single day, Haley seemed ready to shrug off the impending loss in her own backyard.
“Ten days after South Carolina, another 20 states vote,” she told the Associated Press. “I mean, this isn’t Russia. We don’t want someone to go in and just get 99 percent of the vote. What is the rush? Why is everybody so panicked about me having to get out of this race?”
As if to prove her commitment, Haley’s campaign is spending more than $500,000 on television advertising in Michigan ahead of the state’s February 27th primary. A total of 11 campaign stops have been scheduled across Michigan, Minnesota, Colorado, Utah, Virginia, Washington DC, North Carolina, and Massachusetts in that same time period.
Related: Nikki Haley is Headed for Home Field Loss in South Carolina Primary
Much of Haley’s press conference focused on potential roadblocks for Trump’s own campaign, primarily his ongoing legal battles across multiple states.
“Instead of asking me what states I’m gonna win, why don’t we ask how he’s gonna win a general election after spending a full year in a courtroom?” she stated, further emphasizing that she does not “fear Trump’s retribution.”
Despite Haley’s confidence in herself as a viable alternative to the former president, the Trump campaign issued a memo forecasting a major “a**-kicking in the making in South Carolina” and predicting that “the end is near” for Haley’s run.
Connor Walcott is a staff writer for Valuetainment.com. Follow Connor on X and look for him on VT’s “The Unusual Suspects.”
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