Former Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley announced she is voting for former President Donald Trump in the 2024 general election after previously refusing to commit to supporting a specific candidate.
Haley had previously said Trump needs to prove more to his voters in order for her to get behind him in November. She publicly disclosed her support for Trump during an event at the Hudson Institute on Thursday, noting the former president has not reached out to voters who supported her during the primary.
🚨BREAKING🚨
At the @HudsonInstitute, Nikki Haley just announced she’s voting for Donald Trump.
However, she said that Trump needs to do more to prove why her voters should pull the lever for him in November. pic.twitter.com/SWsdCow0Xv
— Bradley Devlin (@bradleydevlin) May 22, 2024
“As a voter, I put my priorities on a president who’s going to have the backs of our allies and hold our enemies to account, who would secure the border, no more excuses,” Haley began. “A president who would support capitalism and freedom, a president who understands we need less debt, not more debt. Trump has not been perfect on these policies. I’ve made that clear many, many times. But Biden has been a catastrophe. So I will be voting for Trump.”
Haley dropped out of the race on March 6 after significantly losing to Trump on Super Tuesday. She polled far behind Trump throughout the primary season and even lost her home state of South Carolina to her opponent. (RELATED: Donald Trump Denies Nikki Haley Being Considered For Vice President)
Trump denied claims circulating in an Axios scoop that he considered her to be his running mate, as the two have appeared to clash since the race. Donald Trump Jr. told Newsmax he would “go to great lengths” to ensure she wasn’t the running mate, according to Politico.
“I will be voting for Trump,” Nikki Haley says. “Having said that, I stand by what I said in my suspension speech.” She notes Trump hasn’t reached out to the voters who supported her. (And continue to do so in surprising numbers in primaries still happening.)
— Kaitlan Collins (@kaitlancollins) May 22, 2024
Haley repeatedly argued she would beat Biden in a general election by a larger margin than Trump, though polls have indicated the former president is leading the incumbent nationally and in battleground states.
CNN’s exit polling found her primary supporters largely identified as “liberal/moderate” or as Democrats and independents. The survey found many of them were first-time voters in a Republican primary and registered in order to hurt Trump’s chances of securing the nomination.
NOW: @NikkiHaley says she will be voting for Donald Trump, during an event at the Hudson Institute.
— Weijia Jiang (@weijia) May 22, 2024
Overwhelming majorities of Haley voters in Virginia and North Carolina said they approve of Biden, and few said they would support a Republican in the general, according to the CNN poll.
