NORTH AUGUSTA, S.C. — Republican Nikki Haley is plotting a possible path to stay in the race until Georgia’s March 12 primary, even after she all but conceded she will likely lose her home state of South Carolina to former President Donald Trump in its GOP contest on Saturday.
Haley notably made no promise to keep going after the slate of Super Tuesday states hold primaries on March 5. But she told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in an exclusive interview that she plans to “continue to fight” to stay in the mix.
“I mean the whole thing is to continue to try and be as competitive as we can, whether it’s South Carolina and Michigan or Super Tuesday dates and beyond,” she said. “We’re focused on the fact that 70% of Americans don’t want a Trump-Biden rematch.”
The former South Carolina governor has outlined plans for stops after Saturday’s vote, including rallies in Colorado, Minnesota, North Carolina, Utah and Virginia. She’ll first head to Michigan on Sunday, where her ads are already on the air.
And in a sign her campaign is keeping an eye on Georgia’s March 12 primary, Haley recently unveiled a list of a dozen Georgia backers, including several state legislators and wealthy GOP donors.
While Haley has conceded she faces long odds, she’s said she isn’t “going anywhere” despite demands she quit the race from senior Republicans, including powerful Trump supporters in Georgia. And she has dismissed talk of a third-party bid without ruling it out.
“We haven’t talked to anyone about that,” she told the AJC. “That’s not anything that’s been our focus right now. We’re just focused on the Republican primary and being as competitive as we can possibly get.”
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Instead, Haley presented herself as the anti-chaos candidate who will bring a sense of normalcy to the race against Trump. The stampede of Republicans backing his campaign, she added, is driven by fear of crossing Trump and not respect for his comeback bid.
“Right now, everything Donald Trump touches is chaos,” she said in the interview. “So imagine a country where we didn’t have the division. Imagine a country where we didn’t have the hate.”
‘Just wait and see’
Just as notable as Haley staying in the fight are the other politicians who are staying on the sidelines of the race, including in Georgia. Haley was a fixture on the state’s campaign trail in 2022, when she campaigned on behalf of Gov. Brian Kemp and other Republicans. Asked whether she is frustrated Kemp has stayed neutral in the race, Haley carefully avoided criticizing him.
“He is a friend and I appreciate his leadership, and he will make whatever decision is best for him. He is still a friend, and we’re going to continue to support him in everything that he does,” she said. “So we’ll just wait and see what he does.”
Haley has gone to extraordinary lengths in maintaining she won’t drop out of the race, even if she is trounced by Trump in her home state.
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
Credit: arvin.temkar@ajc.com
She has also taken steps to sharpen the contrasts between her and Trump, including a Tuesday event when she became emotional speaking about her husband, Michael. Trump has insinuated that Michael, who is deployed in Africa with the South Carolina Army National Guard, left for the mission to escape her.
Haley explained to the AJC on Wednesday why she was brought to tears talking about her husband.
“He’s like my right arm,” she said. “And running for president without him has has not been the easiest.” She said she worries about her husband’s safety “when I wake up in the morning.”
“I worry about him when I go to bed and the kids worry about him,” Haley said. “It’s something every military family goes through.”
She added of Trump: “If he doesn’t understand their sacrifice and their service, it means he doesn’t understand America.”
‘Serious concerns’
Despite her optimistic rhetoric, Haley’s outlook is bleak. She’s lost the first three races in Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada in convincing fashion. And she’s trailing Trump by hefty margins in national and local polls of other key states.
Notably, Haley has not only refused to predict a win in her home state but also any of the upcoming primaries. That includes Georgia, where Trump holds an early lead in polls and broad support from GOP officials.
Trump and his allies have said the race is already over, and his campaign declared this week that “the end is near” for Haley and described her as a “wailing loser hell-bent on an alternative reality.”
In the interview, Haley repeatedly referred to the “chaos” a second Trump term would bring. But she didn’t rule out endorsing him if he wins the Republican nomination.
“I have serious concerns about Donald Trump,” she told the AJC. “I have more serious concerns about Joe Biden.”
AJC in South Carolina
The race for the Republican nomination has reached the South. Atlanta Journal-Constitution reporter Greg Bluestein and photographer Arvin Temkar are in South Carolina through the weekend to see how the race is playing out there. Follow their coverage on AJC.com/politics, and follow them on X: Bluestein at @bluestein and Temkar at @arvintemkar.
