Michigan primary 2024: Nikki Haley remains in the race despite Trump’s South Carolina win

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TROY, Michigan (AP) – Republican presidential candidate nikki haley says that despite this it is not “the end of our story” Donald Trump’s An easy primary victory in South Carolina, his home state where the one-time governor has long suggested would see him compete with the former president.

Rejecting calls from South Carolina Republicans to drop out of the race, Haley traveled Sunday to Michigan, where there is a primary on Tuesday, and spoke in a hotel ballroom filled with hundreds of supporters.

Less than 24 hours after her defeat to Trump on Saturday night, Haley’s campaign said she had raised $1 million “from grassroots supporters alone,” arguing that “Haley’s staying power and influence on the American public Reflects his appeal to a wider class.” ,

But on Sunday, support for Haley’s campaign from Americans for Prosperity, the political arm of the powerful Koch network, also ended.

In a memo first reported by Politico and obtained by The Associated Press, AFP Action senior adviser Emily Seidel wrote that, while the group “stands firmly behind our support” of Haley, it would “focus our resources Will focus on where we can make a difference”. Redirecting spending toward the U.S. Senate and House campaigns and away from Haley’s presidential bid.

“Given the challenges she faces in the primary states, we do not believe any outside group can make any significant changes to widen her path to victory,” Seidel wrote.

AFP Action did it Endorsed Haley’s campaign in November, They began knocking on doors in early voting states and sending dozens of mailers on his behalf, promising to commit their nationwide coalition of activists — and virtually unlimited money — to helping defeat Trump.

With his victory Saturday in the first-in-the-South contest, Trump has now won every primary or caucus on the GOP’s early season calendar, which awards delegates. Her performance has left little wiggle room for Haley, her former ambassador to the United Nations.

“I have never seen the Republican Party as unified as it is right now,” Trump said at a victory night ceremony in Columbia.

Haley insisted she was standing by despite growing pressure to drop her candidacy and let Trump focus solely on the Democratic presidency Joe BidenIn a rematch in 2020.

In addition to a rally Sunday evening in vote-rich Oakland County, Michigan, northwest of Detroit, he scheduled a Monday event in western Michigan Republican hub Grand Rapids. Before the first event on Sunday evening, dozens of supporters filed into the ballroom of the Troy Hotel, which was decorated with campaign signs and included a guitar-playing duo to entertain the crowd rather than Haley’s typical classic rock rally playlist, although The speakers finally made noise. The campaign’s familiar soundtrack.

Supporters of Republican presidential candidate former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley speak at an election night event in Charleston, SC, on Saturday, Feb. 24, 2024 (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley speaks at an election night event in Charleston, SC, on February 24, 2024 (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

Supporters of Republican presidential candidate former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley at an election night event in Charleston, SC, on Saturday, February 24, 2024 (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

Supporters of Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley at an election night event in Charleston, SC, on February 24, 2024 (AP Photo/Chris Carlson)

Taking the stage, Haley gave about a half-hour speech typical of her programs, though she added a few things specific to the Michigan audience. Describing Biden’s encouragement of electric vehicle programs as “corporate welfare,” Haley asked attendees in this state, where the auto industry is a major economic driver, about the unfairness of any requirement to switch to electric.

“What about the fact that maybe we don’t all want to drive electric cars?” Haley asked the crowd, who confirmed her style of questioning. “Have you seen how expensive they are?”

The Biden administration has announced the goal of ensuring EVs Half of all new car sales By 2030. Last month, the White House Awards announced $623 million in grants to states, local governments, and tribes to help build electric vehicle charging networks across the country.

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In another shift in her reasoning, as she moves to the next batch of states to vote, Haley reiterated her comments from Saturday night that the fact that she won nearly 40% of the vote in South Carolina, Which reflects the overwhelming percentage of voters who do not favor Trump. , she says something that will make it difficult for her to win the general election.

“If he’s going to go and call my supporters and say he should be permanently banned from MAGA,” Haley said, referencing Trump’s comments on anyone who funded his campaign. If so, they will not get that 40%.” “They’re not going to get 40% from name calling.”

asa hutchinsonThe Trump critic and former Arkansas governor, who dropped out of the GOP presidential race after the Iowa leadoff caucuses in January, said he thinks Haley should stay on. “The challenge is that she did everything she could in South Carolina,” he said Sunday. CNN’s “State of the Union.”

Haley has pledged to continue holding at least a batch of primaries on March 5, known as Super Tuesday. “But it has to be accelerated as you hit the rep wall. And the representative wall is March 5,” Hutchinson said. “So he has to prove himself.”

South Carolina’s most prominent Republicans stood by Trump, including U.S. Representative Nancy Mace, who endorsed him last week.

For U.S. Representative Russell Fry, “this has always been a primary in name only” and Trump was never in danger of losing to Haley. Fry said Trump will be the GOP nominee and the latest election results are “just confirmation of that.”

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Trump ally, said Trump is “on track” to be able to clinch the nomination by mid-March. “I would say they have the wind at their back,” Abbott told CNN.

Not all voters in South Carolina want Haley to end her campaign.

Irene Sulkowski of Daniel Island said she expected Haley to advance, suggesting the former governor would be a more attractive general election candidate than Trump despite her popularity among the GOP base powering the primary season.

“They’re not thinking, ‘Who do you want representing us in the general election?'” said Sulkowski, an accountant. “And they need to take a long-term view.”

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Beaumont reported from Des Moines, Iowa. Associated Press writer James Pollard in Columbia, South Carolina contributed to this report.

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