Has Nikki Haley endorsed Donald Trump for president?
Despite being on trial and facing many controversies, Donald Trump still managed to bag the Republican presidential nomination earlier this year, as many anticipated.
Nikki Haley was the final challenger to withdraw from the primary race, confirming in March that she had suspended her campaign.
At the time, the former US Ambassador to the United Nations called on Mr Trump to “earn the votes”, holding off endorsing her outspoken rival.
"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," she said at the time. "At its best, politics is about bringing people into your cause, not turning them away. And our conservative cause badly needs more people."
When presidential hopefuls drop out of the US primaries, it’s become quite common for them to endorse whoever takes the top spot to show a unified party front.
Ms Haley, however, stopped short of doing that. With her hopes of US leadership dashed, she has since moved on to work for an ultra-conservative think tank called the Hudson Institute.
Two months after dropping out, has she finally got behind Mr Trump?
Does Nikki Haley endorse Trump?
It’s less than six months before the US heads to the polls in one of the most tense elections of 2024.
However, Ms Haley has refrained from publicly backing Mr Trump for the top spot so far. This tension appears to have stemmed from the bitter war of words the pair exchanged as they were vying for primary votes.
Despite Ms Haley stepping aside, it looks like the politician still won’t budge and this may actually hurt Mr Trump during the US election.
Earlier this year, she suggested that Mr Trump was failing to unify the party and attract people back to his policies.
"Unity is not achieved by simply claiming 'we're united,” she said as she dropped out. “Today, in state after state, there remains a large block of Republican primary voters who are expressing deep concerns about Donald Trump.
“That is not the unity our party needs for success."
On Tuesday, there were signs that Mr Trump has done little to win over Republicans who were drawn to Ms Haley’s policies.
Despite dropping out, Ms Haley won over 20% of the primary vote in Indiana, suggesting that her supporters are similarly not open to endorsing Trump.
According to CNN, a friend of Ms Haley said: “He knows how to reach her if he wants to make amends and try to start winning over her supporters.”
Who is Nikki Haley?
Ms Haley is the former Governor of South Carolina and the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations during Mr Trump’s presidency.
Born Nimrata Randhawa to parents from Punjab in India, Ms Haley previously described herself as a “brown girl in a black and white world”.
Having been involved in politics for some years, Ms Haley entered the presidential race in 2023 to challenge a predominantly male cohort for the role.
The 52-year-old conservative politician ran her campaign on the idea of bringing a new generation into leadership.
“I don’t think you need to be 80 years old to go be a leader in DC. I think we need a new generation to come in, step up and really start fixing things,” she said in 2023, in a swipe at both Joe Biden and Trump.
But where does she stand on the big issues?
According to Newsnation, she is “pro-life” but has said in the past that she wasn’t going to “judge anyone for being pro-choice”.
She is also a staunch supporter of Israel, has a tough stance on immigration, argued that Medicare was unsustainable and supported the expansion of oil and gas drilling.
Although she’s out of the presidential race, it seems like her influence certainly swayed some public opinion.
With Mr Trump currently in court in the ongoing hush money trial, it remains to be seen whether Ms Haley’s lack of support will have an impact on his chances later this year.
