Haley Commits to Stay in GOP Race as Trump Looks to Secure Dominant N.H. Victory

Nikki Haley, the last major GOP opponent of Donald Trump, insisted she would not drop out if she loses Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary to the former president, who aimed for a commanding victory to make a November rematch with President Joe Biden more likely than ever.

Trump’s allies were already ramping up pressure on the former U.N. ambassador to leave the race if she falls by a large margin. She has focused considerable resources on New Hampshire, hoping to capitalize on the state’s independent streak as she looks for an upset or at least a tight loss that could dent Trump’s continued domination of Republican politics.

“I’m running against Donald Trump, and I’m not going to talk about an obituary,” Haley told reporters.

Trump retorted Tuesday, “Let her do whatever she wants,” saying voters will deliver the nomination to him anyway. His aides have argued for several days that Haley has no realistic path if she loses in New Hampshire.

If Trump wins Tuesday, he would be the first Republican presidential candidate to win open races in Iowa and New Hampshire since both states began leading the election calendar in 1976 — a sign of his continued grip on the party’s most loyal voters and a suggestion that he would extend his winning streak no matter how long Haley remained in the race.

Trump won New Hampshire’s Republican primary big during his first run for president in 2016, though some of his allies lost key races during the midterms two years ago. Haley has to contend with an opponent who has a deep bond with the GOP base and has concentrated on winning New Hampshire decisively enough that it would end the competitive phase of the Republican nomination battle.

There was a Democratic New Hampshire primary, too, but it was unsanctioned and provided no delegates to the winner. Biden wasn’t on that ballot, opting to wait for upcoming South Carolina.

Were Haley to drop out after Tuesday, that would effectively decide the GOP primary on its second stop, well before the vast majority of Republican voters across the country have been able to vote.

Trump won the Iowa caucuses by 30 points. Haley finished third in Iowa, behind Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who ended his campaign on Sunday. Next month’s South Carolina primary is the next state where both Trump and Haley would compete. Haley was twice elected governor of her home state, but almost every top elected Republican in South Carolina backs Trump.

Her campaign manager circulated a memo Tuesday to donors, supporters and media arguing that it was too early to dismiss her path forward — while also tamping down expectations for New Hampshire.

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Public opinion polls suggest most Americans oppose a rematch. An AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research poll in December found that 56% of U.S. adults would be very or somewhat dissatisfied with Biden as the Democratic nominee — and 58% felt the same about Trump as the GOP pick.

Trump lost New Hampshire in both of his general election campaigns. Biden finished a distant fifth in the Democrats’ 2020 primary before going on to win the nomination. In the November 2020 election, Biden won 52.7% of the vote to Trump’s 45.4%.