GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) — There are no wins on the horizon Nikki Haley.
People close to the former United Nations ambassador are the latest Republican nominee to run It's Donald Trump The path for the GOP's 2024 presidential nominee is personally preparing for a landslide defeat in his home state's primary election in South Carolina on Saturday. They can't name a single state where he can defeat Trump in the coming weeks.
But ahead of a keynote speech on Tuesday, Haley told The Associated Press that she would not drop out of the Republican primary regardless of Saturday's outcome. And with the support of the strongest fundraising numbers of his political career, he has vowed to stay in the fight against Trump at least until then. Super Tuesday More than ten matches on March 5.
Ten days after South Carolina, 20 other states vote. I mean, it's not Russia. We don't want someone to go in and get 99% of the vote,” Haley said. “What's the rush? Why is everyone so afraid that I should drop out of this race?
“I refuse to leave,” Haley later said in a speech to a small group of supporters gathered in South Carolina, outlining her rationale for staying. “South Carolina will vote on Saturday. But on Sunday, I'll still be running for president. I'm not going anywhere,” he said.
In fact, some Republicans are encouraging Haley to stay on the campaign trail even if she continues to lose — possibly heading into the Republican National Convention in July. The 77-year-old former president is perhaps the most volatile major-party front-runner in American history, but his continued presence will come in handy. A convicted felon Or stumbles into another big scam.
As Trump's “Make America Great Again” movement pushes for his ouster, one protester highlighted Haley Trump's legal exposure and criticized MAGA activists who say she is hurting Trump's chances for the presidency. Joe Biden By refusing to give up in the general election.
“It's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. If I were to drop out of the race today, it would be the longest general election in history,” Haley told The AP.
Asked if there was any primary state in which Trump could be defeated, he demurred.
“Instead of asking me which states I'm going to win, why not ask him how he's going to win the general election after spending a year in the courtroom?”
Hayley's Barriers
History says Haley has no chance of stopping Trump. With an average of 21 points, Hawley has never lost the first two Republican primaries and won the party's presidential nomination. Polls suggest he is a big underdog in his home state on Saturday and in the 16 Super Tuesday contests that follow. Since he announced his first presidential bid in 2015, every Republican effort to blunt Trump's rise has failed.
Yet she leans into the fight.
Lest anyone question her commitment, Hawley's campaign is spending more than $500,000 on a new television ad campaign that will begin running Wednesday in Michigan ahead of the state's Feb. 27 primary, spokeswoman Olivia Perez-Cubaz said. Meanwhile, the AP has obtained Haley's post-South Carolina travel schedule, which includes 11 separate stops over seven days across Michigan, Minnesota, Colorado, Utah, Virginia, Washington, DC, North Carolina and Massachusetts.
The table also includes at least 10 high-dollar private fundraising events.
Indeed, Haley's extensive base of big- and small-dollar donors has been donating at an extraordinary pace despite her underperformance in the polls. It's a reflection of Republicans' ongoing fears about Trump's ability to win over independents and moderate voters in the general election.
“I'm going to support her for the convention,” said Republican donor Eric Levin, who hosted a New York fundraiser for Haley earlier this month. “We are not ready to fold our tents and pray at the altar of Donald Trump.”
“There's value in her sticking around and gathering reps, because if he falters, who knows what could happen,” Levine continued.
Levine is far from alone.
Haley's campaign raised $5 million in a fundraising swing after finishing second in New Hampshire that included stops in Texas, Florida, New York and California, Perez-Cubas said. Her campaign raised $16.5 million in January alone — her best fundraising month — including $2 million in small-dollar donations online in the 48 hours after Trump threatened to “permanently block” Haley supporters from his MAGA movement.
Haley raised another $1 million last week in the 24 hours after Trump attacked her husband, who is currently serving overseas.
The lone member of Congress to endorse Haley, Rep. Ralph Norman, R.S.C., insisted he stay in the race, despite serving two terms as governor of his home state of South Carolina.
“Obviously, you want to win over everybody, but for those who say it's going to embarrass her, or end her political career, I disagree. She's willing to take that risk,” Norman said in an interview. “I think it's a brave thing for her to do. “
Moving forward, Haley's team will focus on several Super Tuesday states with open or semi-open Republican primaries that allow a wide range of voters — especially independents and moderates — to participate, rather than particularly hardcore conservatives.
Trump is not happy
Trump, in recent days, has expressed anger in response to Haley's refusal to give up the nomination.
He called her “stupid” and “bird-brained” in a social media post over the weekend and her campaign released a note ahead of her speech on Tuesday.
“The Real 'State' of Nikki Haley's Campaign?” Trump's campaign leaders wrote. “Broken, out of ideas, out of gas, fully executed on every scale by Donald Trump.”
Eager to head into a general election race against Biden, the former Republican president is taking aggressive steps to seize control of the Republican National Committee, which is supposed to remain neutral in presidential primaries. Last week, Trump announced plans to appoint senior campaign adviser Chris LaCivita as the RNC's chief operating officer and daughter-in-law Laura Trump to co-chair the committee.
Every expectation is on the current leader Rhona McDaniel Trump will step down after winning South Carolina's primary and party officials will ultimately comply with Trump's wishes. Haley's team admits that privately, there is nothing she can do to stop a Trump takeover.
In her speech, Haley said, “There is no fear of Trump's retaliation.”
“I'm not looking for anything from him,” she said. “My own political future is unconcerned.”
Haley, in the interview, took a short-term view of Trump's political prospects, warning her party against allowing Trump to pay her legal fees to raid the RNC's coffers.
Haley said Trump's standing would fundamentally change if he were convicted before Election Day, acknowledging that such an outcome was a very real possibility because Trump is leading 91 felony charges in four separate criminal cases.
“People don't see the road for six months while these court cases happen,” Haley said. “He's going to be in the courtroom in March, April, May and June. How in the world are you going to win a general election when these cases are going on and the verdicts are coming in?
As for her path forward, Haley said she's only focused on her plans through Super Mars. As for staying in the race through the July convention, he said he's not thinking that far ahead.
Few voters want him to.
Gil White, a 75-year-old Republican veteran from James Island, South Carolina, said he was a Trump loyalist until last week when the former president criticized Haley's military serviceman husband.
“It's too much for him to disparage a military man,” White said while attending a Haley rally on Kiawah Island over the weekend.
He acknowledged concerns about Haley's chances against Trump, but said he wants her to stay in the race even if she continues to lose.
“I want the choice,” he said.
___
People report from Kiawah Island, South Carolina. Contributed by Thomas Beaumont, Des Moines, Iowa.
