Columbia, South Carolina – Nikki Haley says she doesn’t need to win her home state of South Carolina later this month to remain in the race for the Republican presidential nomination.
“Success is about being competitive. It’s about closing the gap. It’s about making sure we can continue to move forward heading into Super Tuesday,” Haley emphasized in an interview on Fox News Digital.
A former two-term governor of South Carolina and later ambassador to the United Nations under former President Donald Trump’s administration, he has run for the Republican nomination for three years in a row and is considered the most powerful candidate in the Republican campaign. He faces a tough uphill climb against Trump, who is the leading candidate. White House.
Where do Trump and Haley stand in the latest polls in key Republican states?
Former Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks at a primary election night party on Tuesday, January 23, 2024 in Nashua, New Hampshire. (AP Photo/Pablo Martínez Monsivais)
Trump won last month’s Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary, the first two races on the Republican presidential nomination calendar, by double-digit margins.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis suspended his campaign two days before the New Hampshire primary, leaving Trump and Haley as the final two major candidates in a race that had nearly 15 candidates last August. He became Mr.
2024 showdown: Haley targets Biden and Trump as ‘grumpy old men’
The next major issue for Republicans is Haley’s home state, where the Republican primary will be held on February 24th. The latest poll shows the former president holding a commanding 26-point lead over Haley.
But Haley reiterated her goalposts Thursday in an interview with Fox News Digital after a campaign event at a popular eatery in the Palmetto state capital.

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley, former South Carolina governor and future United Nations ambassador, speaks with voters after a campaign event in Columbia, South Carolina, on February 1, 2024. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
“It’s important to keep this momentum going. We got 20% in Iowa. We got 43% in New Hampshire. Let’s get a little closer so we can get closer to him.” [Trump] “We want to be more competitive heading into Super Tuesday,” she stressed.
15 states hold contests for the Republican presidential nomination on Super Tuesday, which this year will be held on March 5th. Thirty-six percent of all Republican presidential delegates will be contested in primaries and caucuses.
Haley has faced calls for her resignation since losing to Trump by 11 points in New Hampshire on January 23, prompting Trump to begin focusing on defeating President Biden in the November general election. Can be done.
But Haley stressed at a campaign event in Columbia and later at a scrum with political reporters Thursday in Hilton Head, South Carolina, that “we’re not going anywhere.”

Republican presidential candidate, former United Nations ambassador, and former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley attends a campaign event at the barbecue restaurant “Forest Fire” in Hilton Head, South Carolina, United States, on February 1, 2024.Reuters/Shannon Stapleton (Reuters/Shannon Stapleton)
“This is really about closing that gap. We have a country to save and as long as we can continue to close that gap, I am determined to keep going until the end,” she added.
Mr. Trump has the support of many South Carolina Republicans, including Gov. Henry McMaster and Sens. Lindsey Graham and Tim Scott, who ended their bid for the White House in November. There is.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
But Haley downplayed the former president’s political support in South Carolina and around the country, telling the Hilton Head crowd that Trump “surrounds himself with political elites. They’re all the same as the lawmakers who didn’t do that.” Anything for us. ”
Haley also took aim at Trump after federal election filings revealed that Trump’s political committee spent about $29 million in legal consulting and fees in the second half of 2023. .
Trump made history last year as the first former or current president to be indicted for a crime, but the four indictments, including charges that he tried to overturn his 2020 presidential election defeat, are among Republican voters. It only increased Trump’s support.
“His case is just beginning,” Haley said at an event in Columbia, South Carolina. “Do you really think he can beat Joe Biden when he’s spending all that money on legal fees? He doesn’t.”
Fox News’ James Levinson contributed to this report
Get the latest on the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more with Fox News Digital’s Election Hub.