OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
While the vast majority of GOP presidential primary contenders didn’t make it past the first round against former President Donald Trump, his UN ambassador, Nikki Haley, has remained in the race and is currently the 45th president’s only remaining serious challenger.
But she’s gone 0-4 in the primaries thus far, and she appears to be on pace to lose her own state of South Carolina, where she served as a then-popular governor before joining Trump’s administration in 2016. And now, several prominent conservatives are pressing Haley to end her presidential bid, save her reputation, and back the man who appears to be on a glide path to the nomination, despite the legal challenges he faces from the Biden administration and Democratic prosecutors.
“A group of 12 prominent conservatives, including a former governor, media executives, and a former U.S. attorney general,” are calling on her to quit the race, the Washington Examiner reported, though she is continuing to raise money and has vowed to stay in the race until the end.
“While you have waged a spirited campaign for the 2024 Republican Party nomination, it is clear you cannot win the GOP nomination,” a letter to her reads. “We applaud your efforts, but your candidacy is over.”
As the Washington Examiner reported, the group went on to accuse Haley of harming Republicans by remaining in the race:
The group consists of former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore, former Ohio Rep. Bob McEwen, Conservative Action Project Chairman Kenneth Blackwell, Conservative Leadership PAC Chairman Morton Blackwell, Media Research Center President Brent Bozell, Counterpoint Institute President Dr. Shea Bradley-Farrell, Tea Party Patriots Chairwoman Jenny Beth Martin, American Lands Council President Myron Ebell, ConservativeHQ.com Chairman Richard Viguerie, presidential historian Craig Shirley, American Spectator Publisher R. Emmett Tyrrell, and former U.S. Attorney General Ed Meese.
The group cited a past example of how a prolonged and pointless candidacy within the GOP caused long-term damage to both the party and the candidate himself.
“In 1964, then-[New York] Governor Nelson Rockefeller stayed in the race against [Arizona] Sen. Barry Goldwater too long, even when it was apparent he had lost the nomination,” it reads. “As a result, Rockefeller ended up hated by the rank and file of the GOP. Do you really want to become the Nelson Rockefeller of the 21st century?”
The group also lashed out at Haley’s criticisms of Trump, which they said would hurt his chances against President Joe Biden in November.
“Please withdraw from the race now, endorse Donald Trump, and another year will beckon,” the letter concludes. “This action by you would be the better part of valor.”
Trump did not appear as a candidate in the Republican presidential primary held earlier this month in the early-voting state of Nevada. However, his absence did not contribute to ensuring a triumph for Haley.
Although they were unable to write in Trump’s name, voters in the state-run Republican nominating contest could select “none of these candidates” instead.
Haley pretty much disregarded the Nevada primary results while her name was on the ballot.
Before the primary, Haley refrained from campaigning in the state and hasn’t been there since giving a speech at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual leadership conference in late October.
“In terms of Nevada, we have not spent a dime nor an ounce of energy on Nevada,” Haley campaign manager Betsy Ankney told reporters on Monday. “So Nevada is not and has never been our focus.”
And it showed: By the end of the night, Nevada voters cast more ballots for Trump as a write-in candidate and for “None of the Above” than Haley received.
Nevada voters wrote Trump in and destroyed Nikki Haley in an election that doesn’t even produce delegates. The caucus does and she’s not even doing the caucus.
Drop out Nikki!!!
I’ve said it all along, people will elect Trump even if he’s not on the ballot and if he’s in jail! pic.twitter.com/KnkYVOGrNt
— Marjorie Taylor Greene 🇺🇸 (@mtgreenee) February 7, 2024
