- Written by Holly Honderich
- in washington
Watch: How has Haley's tone on Trump changed?
Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley has vowed to remain in the race regardless of the outcome of Saturday's South Carolina primary, where she is trailing Donald Trump by a wide margin.
Haley's poor polling in her home state, coupled with her three consecutive losses to Trump, has fueled speculation that she may soon drop out of the race.
“I'm not,” she said in Greenville, South Carolina. “We are far from it.”
She vowed to finish at least 16 races on Super Tuesday, March 5.
“I'm not quitting,” Haley said to applause. “South Carolina votes on Saturday. But come Sunday, I'm still running for president. I'm not going anywhere.”
Trump is now spending time in South Carolina, where he is certain to win by a wide margin and further solidify his position as the Republican front-runner.
Ever since Florida Governor Ron DeSantis suspended his campaign in January, he and Haley have been going head-to-head in the race for the Republican nomination.
At a town hall event Tuesday night, also in Greenville, Trump said he believed Haley didn't know “a way out” of the race.
“She just can't get out,” Trump said. “If she was doing well, I would understand that, but she is doing very poorly.”
WATCH: Hailey jokes that some people came to her speech to see if she would drop out
But Haley, a former South Carolina governor, has not been able to capture Trump. Recent polls in South Carolina show her trailing the former president by about 30 points. Nationally, the difference is even wider.
Still, Haley continues her campaign in earnest, planning a series of events around the country. She went so far as to announce her campaign teams in Texas, Georgia, Vermont and California.
The former governor embraced his underdog status in a speech in Greenville on Tuesday, taking a swipe at “political elites and party officials” who have belittled his campaign.
She once again positioned herself as a younger, more stable alternative to both Trump and President Joe Biden, calling them both “old men” on Tuesday.
And a former U.N. ambassador who served under Trump doubled down on his criticism of his former boss, calling him a “disaster” and calling him “more volatile, more free-spirited” than he was during his first white turn. evaluated. House.
“He's completely distracted,” she said, alluding to his many legal problems. “And it's all about him.”
Haley's long-term goals are supported by generous donations from deep-pocketed donors. Campaign officials announced earlier this month that she had raised $16.5 million (£13 million) in January.
“We're going to have the resources to follow through,” Haley's campaign manager, Betsy Ankney, told reporters last month.
But Saturday's vote could be Haley's last chance to go the distance and prove to voters that she can truly challenge Trump, even if she plans to see the outcome on Super Tuesday.
If he cannot muster support in his home state, his path to the nomination will become even narrower.
There will be 16 contests on Super Tuesday, March 5th, with 874 Republican delegates participating. This represents more than a third of the 2,429 total delegates awarded this year.
A candidate must win half of that total to become the Republican nominee. So far, Haley has won 17 delegates.
Despite long odds, Haley remains committed to the process, saying the United States does not conduct “Soviet-style elections where one candidate gets 99 percent of the vote.”
“We will not anoint the king of this country,” she added. “We have an election, and Donald Trump, every citizen should know, we did not rig the election.
