Nikki Haley has suspended her White House campaign, declining to endorse former president Donald Trump but calling on him to earn the support of moderates and independents who backed her in the primary.
"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," Haley said in a televised address in Charleston, South Carolina.
Haley, A Republican former United Nations ambassador, was in a two-person contest with Trump for the chance to face President Joe Biden in November's election but
and never presented a serious obstacle in Trump's path to the nomination.
Former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley has suspended her Republican presidential campaign. Source: AP / Robert F. Bukaty
The 52-year-old was little known outside her native South Carolina before Trump tapped her as ambassador to the United Nations back in 2017 and used the high-profile UN post to cultivate an image as a plain-speaking conservative.
She prided herself on being the last challenger standing between the "chaos" of Trump and the 2024 Republican White House nomination.
"I am filled with the gratitude for the outpouring of support we've received from all across our great country," Haley added.
"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."
Haley lasted longer than any other Republican challenger to Trump but never posed a serious threat to the former president, whose iron grip on the party's base remains firm despite his multiple criminal indictments.
The rematch between Trump, 77, and Biden, 81 - the first repeat United States presidential contest since 1956 - is one that few Americans want. Opinion polls show both Biden and Trump have low approval ratings among voters.
The election promises to be deeply divisive in a country already riven by political polarisation. Biden has cast Trump as an existential danger to democratic principles, while Trump has sought to re-litigate his false claims that he won in 2020.
Haley had drawn support from deep-pocketed donors intent on stopping Trump from winning a third consecutive Republican presidential nomination.
She ultimately failed to pry loose enough conservative voters in the face of Trump's dominance.
But her stronger showing among moderate Republicans and independents highlighted how Trump's scorched-earth style of politics could make him vulnerable in the 5 November election.
