Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley announced the end of her presidential campaign after former President Donald Trump's near sweep of every state in the GOP primary to date.
"I am filled with the gratitude for the outpouring of support we've received from all across our great country," Haley said in a brief concession speech Wednesday morning in her hometown of Charleston, South Carolina. "But the time has now come to suspend my campaign.
"I said I wanted Americans to have their voices heard. I have done that.
"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 in."
She did not immediately issue an endorsement for Trump, urging her former boss to appeal to her independent and Democrat voters to bring them into the GOP electoral base this November.
"I congratulate him and wish him well," Haley said.
"It is now up to Donald Trump to earn the votes of those in our party and beyond it who did not support him. 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 now his time for choosing."
Haley denounced divisive politics after a bitterly divisive break from her former boss.
"As important while we stand strong for the cause of freedom, we must bind together as Americans," she added. "We must turn away from the darkness of hatred and division. I will continue to promote all those values, as is the right of every American."
Haley only won Vermont among 15 states that held GOP contests Tuesday night, and only Washington, D.C., among all the other primary and caucus states to date.
Trump has not officially clinched the nomination, but he could next Tuesday as Georgia, Hawaii, Mississippi, and Washington state all hold their delegate-delivering contests to help him get to the 1,215 delegates needed to win.
Haley leaves the 2024 presidential contest having made history as the first woman to win a Republican primary. She beat Trump in the District of Columbia on Sunday and Vermont on Tuesday.
She had insisted she would stay in the race through Super Tuesday and crossed the country campaigning in states holding Republican contests.
"Our national debt will eventually crush our economy," Haley warned in her concession speech, signaling she supports Trump to defeat President Joe Biden. "A smaller federal government is not only necessary for our freedom. It is necessary for our survival. The road to socialism is the road to ruin for America.
"Our Congress is dysfunctional and only getting worse. It is filled with followers, not leaders. Term limits for Washington politicians are needed now, more than ever.
"Our world is on fire because of America's retreat. Standing by our allies in Ukraine, Israel, and Taiwan is a moral imperative. But it's also more than that. If we retreat further, there will be more war not less."
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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