BEAUFORT, S.C. – Nikki Haley has repeatedly pledged to stay in the Republican presidential nomination race at least through March 5, when 15 states hold contests on Super Tuesday.
The former two-term South Carolina governor who later served as U.N. ambassador in Donald Trump’s administration faces an extremely steep uphill climb to win the nomination against the former president, who remains the commanding frontrunner in the GOP race as he bids a third straight time for the White House.
“We are focused on every state before us. Now it’s South Carolina on Saturday. Then it will be Michigan, then it will be Super Tuesday states and we’ll take it from there,” Haley told Fox News Digital interview on Wednesday.
Her home state holds its GOP primary this weekend, with Michigan voting next Tuesday.
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Nikki Haley speaks at a campaign event on Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2024, in Beaufort, South Carolina. (AP Photo/Meg Kinnard)
Nearly 800 delegates are up for grabs on Super Tuesday, with over 150 at stake over the following two weeks. Among the states holding contests on Super Tuesday are delegate-rich California and Texas, and other big states like Florida, Illinois and Ohio will hold winner-take-all primaries on March 19. Polling in many of those states indicates Trump holding large leads over Haley.
The Trump campaign predicted in a memo this week that the former president would secure the nomination on March 19, even under a “most-generous model” for Haley.
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“Let’s see if it happens,” Haley quickly responded when asked by Fox News what she would do if Trump clinches the nomination next month.
Trump grabbed a majority of the votes last month in the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary, and won by a landslide a week and a half ago in the Nevada and U.S. Virgin Island caucuses. The latest public opinion surveys suggest the former president holds a double-digit lead over Haley in South Carolina’s primary, where early voting ends on Friday.
Former President Donald Trump greets supporters after sitting for a town hall hosted by Laura Ingraham on Fox News’ “The Ingraham Angle,” on Feb. 20, 2024, in Greenville, South Carolina. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
“She’s getting clobbered,” Trump said at a recent rally in North Charleston, South Carolina. “She’s finished.”
Haley for weeks has repeatedly said she doesn’t need to win her home state.
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“Success means being competitive. Closing the gap. Making sure we can continue to go forward as we go into Super Tuesday,” Haley stressed in a Fox News Digital interview earlier this month in Columbia, South Carolina.
Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley criticizes former President Donald Trump at a rally in Beaufort, South Carolina on Feb. 21, 2024. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
“It’s just about keeping that momentum going. We got 20% in Iowa. We got 43% in New Hampshire. Let’s bring it a little bit closer so that we can get closer in to him [Trump] and make it more competitive going into Super Tuesday.”
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But Haley seems to be changing the goal posts. On the campaign trail in recent days and in Wednesday’s Fox News Digital interview, Haley said”‘our goal is that we’re giving voices a chance to be heard.”
“Ten days after South Carolina, 21 more states and territories will have voted. Let’s let the people’s voices be heard.”
Fox News’ Kirill Clark contributed to this report