Nikki Haley arrives to announce she is suspending her campaign, as her son Nalin Haley claps, in Charleston, South Carolina, on Wednesday. Reuters

Her departure clears Trump to focus solely on his likely rematch in November with President Joe Biden. The former president is on track to reach the necessary 1,215 delegates to clinch the Republican nomination later this month.

Haley didn’t endorse the former president in a speech in Charleston, South Carolina. Instead, she challenged him to win the support of the moderate Republicans and independent voters who supported her.

"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 its best, politics is about bringing people into your cause, not turning them away. And our conservative cause badly needs more people.”

Haley, a former South Carolina governor and UN ambassador, was Trump’s first significant rival when she jumped into the race in February 2023. She spent the final phase of her campaign aggressively warning the GOP against embracing Trump, whom she argued was too consumed by chaos and personal grievance to defeat  Biden in the general election.

Haley’s defeat marks a painful, if predictable, blow to those voters, donors and Republican Party officials who opposed Trump and his fiery brand of "Make America Great Again” politics.

She was especially popular among moderates and college-educated voters, constituencies that will likely play a pivotal role in the general election.

 It’s unclear whether Trump, who recently declared that Haley donors would be permanently banned from his movement, can ultimately unify a deeply divided party.

Haley planned to address donors on a Zoom meeting on Wednesday afternoon, according to two people familiar with the plans.

Trump on Tuesday night declared that the GOP was united behind him, but in a statement shortly afterward, Haley spokesperson Olivia Perez-Cubas said, "Unity is not achieved by simply claiming, ‘We’re united.’"

Haley has made clear she doesn’t want to serve as Trump’s vice president or run on a third-party ticket arranged by the group No Labels. She leaves the race with an elevated national profile that could help her in a future presidential run.

Associated Press