WASHINGTON—With former President Donald Trump’s overwhelming victory on Super Tuesday, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley’s path to the Republican presidential nomination is coming to an end.
President Trump is expected to secure up to around 850 delegates after winning all Super Tuesday states except for Vermont, where she won by a few percentage points.
From there, the GOP frontrunner could clinch the nomination within weeks.
Karoline Leavitt, President Trump’s press secretary, said the campaign had predicted “an avalanche of delegates ... for the president, this is one more pivotal step on his way to becoming the official Republican nominee.”
At Mar-a-Lago, the location of Trump campaign’s watch party, Bruce LeVell, President Trump’s national diversity coordinator, told The Epoch Times: “I see the same kind of adrenaline and momentum that I saw in 2015 … The energy is incredible.”
In response to Super Tuesday results, Ms. Haley’s national spokesperson Olivia Perez-Cubas said in a statement: “We’re honored to have received the support of millions of Americans across the country today, including in Vermont where Nikki became the first Republican woman to win two presidential primary contests.
“Unity is not achieved by simply claiming ‘we’re united.’ Today, in state after state, there remains a large block of Republican primary voters who are expressing deep concerns about Donald Trump. That is not the unity our party needs for success. Addressing those voters’ concerns will make the Republican Party and America better.”
Over the weekend leading up to the election, Ms. Haley suggested she may remain in the race even if there was only a sliver of hope.
Ms. Haley also said that, even if she would drop out, she did not feel bound by the pledge she made to the Republican National Committee (RNC) to back the party’s eventual nominee.
After the Super Tuesday results, calls for Ms. Haley to drop out of the race have intensified.
Ms. Leavitt urged Ms. Haley to withdraw her bid, which would be “what is best for the Republican Party and adhere to the will of Republican voters.”
Over 2 Million Votes Will Find New Owners, Or Not
Ms. Haley has amassed over two million votes since the GOP primary began, including about 750,000 before Super Tuesday.Will these votes go to President Trump, President Joe Biden, the Democratic presumptive nominee, third-party candidate Robert F. Kennedy, or no one?
None of the Super Tuesday states are swing states. However, two are in primary races in February: Ms. Haley obtained 22,638 votes in Nevada and 296,431 votes in Michigan.
These votes are sizable and significant, even though a majority of Ms. Haley’s votes were cast as votes against President Trump based on the NBC and CNN exit polls.
In the 2020 general election, President Biden beat President Trump by 33,000 votes in Nevada and 150,000 in Michigan.
Epoch Times’s interviews on Super Tuesday also show that many of Ms. Haley’s voters are against Trump and may not vote for him regardless.
“I don’t like either of the other two candidates. I haven’t seen a lot of good performance by either one of them,” Rex Shipley in northern Virginia’s Loudoun County told The Epoch Times, referring to the presumptive nominee on both sides: President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump. “So I think we need someone new in office.”
Mr. Shipley knows that Ms. Haley’s campaign is dwindling down, but he said: “I don’t see a path forward. But I’m gonna try to do my part.”
He asserted that if President Trump became the Republican nominee, he would vote for President Biden in the general election.
He said he’s a registered Republican but votes independently.
He thinks that Ms. Haley and President Trump have similar policies with different approaches and styles.
“I’m not one that believes the president should skirt the law in any form,” he added, referring to President Trump’s legal battles.
In Dallas, Texas, Shannon McKinnon said he voted for Nikki Haley “to get out Trump.” He said he is a registered Republican but often votes Democratic.
Even if the former United Nations ambassador doesn’t win Super Tuesday in Texas or elsewhere, Mr. McKinnon wants her to stay in the race.
“I think this time around, I’m a never Trumper,” he said. “He’s a horrible human being.”
Age isn’t a factor when it comes to President Joe Biden’s ability to serve in the White House, he said. That’s because those who work with the current president say his cognitive abilities are fine, which is good enough for Mr. McKinnon.
Some Republicans hope that Ms. Haley’s primary voters won’t vote for President Biden.
In Utah, U.S. Senate candidate Brent Hatch suspects the vast majority of Republicans will vote for Trump.
“It’s a binary choice: Trump vs. Biden. It’s a pretty easy choice,” Mr. Hatch told The Epoch Times.
However, Utah state Sen. Mike McKell (R-Spanish Fork), who is on Ms. Haley’s Utah Leadership team, isn’t so optimistic.
He told The Epoch Times, “I think it’s still hard to say, and you’re seeing that across the nation. There are certainly a number of Republicans who are not looking forward to supporting President Trump. But you know, I don’t hear any of them pushing for President Biden, either. So, I don’t know.”
