Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley reacts while speaking about her husband, Maj. Michael Haley, who is currently deployed with the South Carolina National Guard, during a campaign stop at the Clemson University at Greenville ONE building ahead of the Republican presidential primary election in Greenville, South Carolina, U.S. February 20, 2024.
Alyssa Pointer | Reuters
Days ahead of the Super Tuesday presidential primaries, former South Carolina governor and Republican candidate Nikki Haley said in an interview Sunday she will continue in the race for the GOP nomination as long as she remains competitive.
In an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Haley said she is not looking “too far ahead” when asked if she would drop out of the race if she loses to frontrunner and former president Donald Trump on Super Tuesday.
“As long as we are competitive, as long as we are showing that there is a place for us, I’m going to continue to fight,” Haley said.
After primary losses in Iowa, South Carolina and New Hampshire, Haley trails Trump in delegates with just 27 to his 247 so far. However, Haley said those primaries only partially represent who Americans will vote for on Super Tuesday. Fifteen states and one territory will vote in primaries on Tuesday.
“You’ve only had three or four states that have voted up until now,” Haley said. “We’re a big country and we want everybody to feel like they had the opportunity to vote for someone and not against someone.”
Several Trump-critical Republican senators have endorsed Haley, including Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski as her state heads to the polls Tuesday.
In an interview with NBC News Saturday, Murkowski said Haley is “a qualified, competent, capable leader at a time when the country needs them.”
Murkowski added she refuses “to accept that [Trump and Biden are] my only two choices.”
When asked if she would endorse a Trump nomination, Haley would not unequivocally say whether she is still bound by a Republican National Committee pledge to support the GOP nominee.
“No, I think I’ll make what decision I want to make, but that’s not something I’m thinking about,” Haley said, adding that the pledge was made at the time “in order to get on the debate stage.”