GREENVILLE, S.C. (AP) — Victory is not at hand. nikki haley.
People close to the last major Republican candidate, the former U.N. ambassador donald trump's Republican candidates for the 2024 presidential nomination are privately bracing for a crushing defeat in their home state of South Carolina's primary on Saturday. And she can't name a state where she's likely to beat Trump in the coming weeks.
But Haley told The Associated Press ahead of Tuesday's important speech that she had no intention of leaving the Republican primary regardless of Saturday's results.And backed by the strongest fundraising numbers of her political career, she vowed to at least continue her fight against President Trump. super tuesday More than a dozen contests are scheduled for March 5th.
“Ten days after South Carolina, 20 more states will vote. So this is not Russia. We don't want someone to go to the polls and get 99% of the votes,” Haley said. he said. “What is Rush? Why is everyone so panicked that I have to withdraw from this race?”
“I'm not quitting,” Haley told a small crowd of supporters in South Carolina in a speech explaining her reasons for staying. “South Carolina votes on Saturday. But on Sunday, I'm still going to run for president. I'm not going anywhere.”
In fact, some Republicans are encouraging Haley to continue campaigning even if she continues to lose, possibly until the Republican National Convention in July. Her continued presence could help if the 77-year-old former president, who is perhaps the most volatile front-runner in a major party in U.S. history, becomes president. convicted felon Or will we encounter another big scandal?
As Trump's “Make America Great Again” movement threatens to step down, defiant Haley highlights Trump's legal exposure and claims MAGA is hurting her chances against him criticized the activists. joe biden He refused to drop out and participated in the general election.
“That's the most ridiculous thing I've ever heard. If I drop out of the race today, it will be the longest general election in history,” Haley told The Associated Press.
He also pushed back when asked if there were any key states that could defeat Trump.
“Instead of asking me which states I can win, why don't you ask him how he wins a general election after spending an entire year in court?”
hayley hurdle
History shows that Haley has no chance of stopping Trump. Never before has a Republican lost the first two primaries and won his party's presidential nomination like Haley did. Polls show her trailing significantly in her home state Saturday and in the 16 Super Tuesday contests that follow. And since she first announced her presidential bid in 2015, every effort by Republicans to blunt Trump's rise has failed.
Still, she leans into the fight.
Lest anyone question her commitment, Haley's campaign will conduct a campaign in Michigan on Wednesday ahead of the state's Feb. 27 primary, according to spokeswoman Olivia Perez-Cubas. The company is spending more than $500,000 on a new television advertising campaign. At the same time, The Associated Press obtained Haley's post-South Carolina travel schedule, which includes 11 visits in seven days to Michigan, Minnesota, Colorado, Utah, Virginia, Washington, D.C., North Carolina and Massachusetts.
The schedule also includes at least 10 high-ticket private fundraising events.
Indeed, despite Haley's underwhelming poll performance, a broad base of large and small donors are giving at an extraordinary pace. This reflects deep-rooted concerns among Republicans about whether Trump will be able to win support from independents and moderate voters in the general election, as well as serious concerns about leadership disruption if he returns to the White House. ing.
Eric Levine, a Republican donor who co-hosted Haley's fundraiser in New York earlier this month, said he was “going to support her all the way to the convention.” “We are not ready to fold up our tents and pray at Donald Trump's altar.”
“It's worth it for her to persist and get participants because if he stumbles, who knows what's going to happen,” Levine continued.
Levine is far from alone.
After finishing second in New Hampshire, Haley's campaign raised $5 million in fundraising efforts that included efforts in Texas, Florida, New York and California, Perez-Cubas said. Her campaign said it was Haley's best fundraising month ever, including $2 million in small online donations in the 48 hours after President Trump threatened to “permanently ban” Haley's supporters from the MAGA movement. In January alone, it raised $16.5 million.
Last week, Haley raised another $1 million in the 24 hours after Trump attacked her husband, a military man serving overseas.
Rep. Ralph Norman (RS.C.), the only lawmaker supporting Ms. Haley, said he would support Ms. Haley even if she lost South Carolina, where she lives and where she served two terms as governor. insisted that he would remain in the election campaign.
“Of course you want to win against everyone, but I don't agree with those who say it will embarrass her or end her political career. She’s willing to take that risk,” Norman said in an interview. “I think what she's doing is brave.”
Going forward, Haley's team will focus specifically on several Super Tuesday states that hold open or semi-open Republican primaries that are open to not only hardcore conservatives but also a broader electorate, especially independents and moderates. is guessing.
trump is not happy
In recent days, President Trump has shown moments of anger over Haley's refusal to waive her nomination.
He called her a “stupid” and “bird-brained” in social media posts over the weekend, and his campaign released a memo ahead of her speech on Tuesday, saying the loss of her home state on Saturday left her in the race. predicted that they would be forced to retreat.
“What is the true 'state' of Nikki Haley's campaign?” Trump campaign managers wrote. “My heart is broken, I'm out of ideas, I'm out of gas, and I'm completely defeated by Donald Trump in every way.”
The former Republican president is eager to take on Biden in the general election, taking control of the Republican National Committee, the Republican national political machine that is supposed to remain neutral during presidential primaries. We are taking proactive measures to President Trump last week announced plans to appoint senior campaign adviser Chris LaCivita to be the RNC's chief operating officer and his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, to co-chair the committee.
And all kinds of expectations are placed on the current chairman. Ronna McDaniel Trump plans to resign after winning the South Carolina primary, and party leaders will likely eventually acquiesce to his wishes. Haley's team has acknowledged privately that there is nothing it can do to stop the Trump administration from taking over.
In her speech, Haley said she was “not afraid of retaliation from President Trump.”
“I'm not asking anything from him,” she said. “I have no interest in my own political future.”
In the interview, Haley took a short-term view of Trump's political prospects while warning the party not to allow Trump to raid the RNC's coffers to pay his legal fees.
Haley said President Trump's position would fundamentally change if he were a convicted felon by Election Day, noting that Trump has 91 charges in four separate criminal cases. As he navigated his way through the felonies, he acknowledged that such an outcome was a very real possibility.
“When these trials happen, people aren't thinking about six months from now,” Haley said. “He's going to be in court all of March, April, May, June. How on earth is he going to win a general election when these lawsuits keep going and decisions like this keep coming?”
As for what's next, Haley said she's only focused on her plans leading up to Super Tuesday. As for staying in the race until the July competition, he said he's not thinking that far ahead.
Some voters hope she does.
Gil White, 75, a Republican veteran from James Island, South Carolina, said he was a Trump supporter until last week when the former president criticized Haley's husband, a military veteran.
“His disrespect for deployed service members goes too far,” White said at a rally for Haley on Kiawah Island over the weekend.
He acknowledged he had concerns about Haley potentially running against Trump, but said he hoped she would remain in the race even if she continued to lose.
“I want choice,” he said.
___
Peoples reported from Kiawah Island, South Carolina. Thomas Beaumont in Des Moines, Iowa, contributed.
