(CHARLESTON, Sc.) — Nikki Haley announced Wednesday she is ending her presidential campaign, though stopped short of endorsing Donald Trump.
“I am filled with the gratitude for the outpouring of support we’ve received from all across our great country,” Haley said from Charleston, South Carolina. “But the time has now come to suspend my campaign.”
“I said I wanted Americans to have their voice. I have done that,” she continued. “I have no regrets. And although I will no longer be a candidate, I will not stop using my voice for the things I believe.”
Her decision, which comes after resounding losses across the country on Super Tuesday, leaves Donald Trump as the last major candidate for the 2024 Republican nomination.
Haley acknowledged in her brief remarks that Trump is now all but certain be the GOP nominee after the party’s convention in July.
“I congratulate him and wish him well. I wish anyone well who would be America’s president,” she said. “Our country is too precious to let our differences divide us.”
She didn’t explicitly endorse him, however, saying: “I have always been a conservative Republican and always supported the Republican nominee. But on this question, as she did on so many others, Margaret Thatcher provided some good advice When she said, ‘Never just follow the crap. Always make up your own mind.'”
“It is now up to Donald Trump to earn the votes of those in our party and beyond it, who did not support it,” she added. “And I hope he does that. At its best politics is about bringing people into your cause, not turning them away. And our conservative cause badly needs more people.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
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