Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley said that “today is not the end of our story” and vowed to stay in the race for the GOP nomination in a speech on Saturday night after losing her home state’s primary to former president Donald Trump by a large margin.
“I said earlier this week that no matter what happens in South Carolina, I would continue to run for president,” Haley told supporters in a speech on Saturday. “I’m a woman of my word. I’m not giving up this fight when a majority of Americans disapprove of both Donald Trump and Joe Biden.”
Haley, who had garnered 39.2 percent of the vote to Trump’s 60.4 percent with 53 percent of the vote counted, congratulated Trump on his win and put a positive spin on the results.
“I’m an accountant. I know 40 percent is not 50 percent. But I also know 40 percent is not some tiny group. There are huge numbers of voters in our Republican primaries who are saying they want an alternative,” she said, suggesting Saturday’s results show South Carolina’s “frustration with our country’s direction.”
“This has never been about me or my political future. We need to beat Joe Biden in November,” she added, saying she does not believe Trump can beat Biden.
“Nearly every day, Trump drives people away, including with his comments just yesterday,” the former South Carolina governor said. On Friday, while speaking at the Black Conservative Federation Gala in South Carolina, Trump suggested that black voters “are so much on my side now” and relate to him because of his criminal indictments. Black people, he said, have “embraced” his mugshot.
Haley’s camp tried to temper expectations in South Carolina ahead of Saturday’s primary, saying the campaign had its sights set on a number of upcoming open or semi-open primaries on Super Tuesday. In an open primary, voters do not have to formally register with a political party ahead of Election Day in order to vote in that party’s primary. In a semi-open primary, voters who are not affiliated with a political party can choose which party’s primary they would like to participate in.
Of 874 delegates up for grabs on March 5, nearly two-thirds are in states with open or semi-open primaries, including Texas, Maine, and Virginia. Haley’s campaign is eyeing several states that have a large contingent of college-educated voters, suburban voters, and independents, who tend to support Haley over Trump. Those states include Massachusetts, Minnesota, North Carolina, Utah, Vermont, and Virginia.
Haley is running ads in Michigan ahead of its February 27 primary. She’s announced state leadership teams in Vermont, Texas, Minnesota, and California and plans to traverse seven states and Washington, D.C., next week after the South Carolina primary.
“South Carolina has spoken,” Haley said on Saturday. “We’re the fourth state to do so. In the next ten days, another 21 states and territories will speak. They have the right to a real choice, not a Soviet-style election with only one candidate. And I have a duty to give them that choice.”
Trump previously defeated Haley in both Iowa and New Hampshire, and has collected Nevada’s delegates, though the two candidates did not have a head-to-head match there due to a quirk in the state’s nominating process.
Trump, for his part, delivered a victory speech earlier in the evening in which he trained his sights on President Biden, whom he predicted would be “fired” by voters in November.
“This was a little sooner than we anticipated and an even bigger win than we anticipated,” Trump said shortly after major news outlets called the race for him just after polls closed at 7 p.m.
During his speech, Trump paid almost no attention to Haley, his last remaining GOP rival, focusing his ire instead on Biden. “We’re going to look at Joe Biden — look him right in the eye, ‘Joe, you’re fired. Get out, get out, Joe, you’re fired,” he said.
Trump suggested that Election Day in November may be the most important date “perhaps in the history of our country.”