Haley said that if she dropped out now, voters would be subject to an exhausting general election contest between Trump and President Joe Biden – one for which many Americans have shown little appetite.
“There would be widespread reports of Americans suffering from a bad case of ‘Biden-Trump fatigue’. And it would be true,” Haley said. “A stunning 70 per cent of the country doesn’t want a Biden-Trump rematch. The majority of Americans don’t just dislike one candidate. They dislike both.”
Haley noted speculation that she might use the speech to announce that she was dropping out. “Well I’m not,” she said. “Far from it and I’m here to tell you why.”
What hope for remnants of US Republicans fighting Trump’s authoritarian drift?
What hope for remnants of US Republicans fighting Trump’s authoritarian drift?
And she said she was not staying in the race in hopes of being selected as Trump’s running mate. The former president has previously said he has ruled out Haley.
Haley’s speech, where she spent roughly equal time criticising Trump and Biden, comes with her campaign in precarious position ahead of South Carolina.
Polls show Trump leading her ahead of the primary by more than 25 percentage points in her home state, as he looks to deliver a knockout blow following commanding victories in Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada.
Earlier Tuesday, Haley told the Associated Press she intends to compete until at least Super Tuesday on March 5, when more than a dozen states hold their primaries.
“We’ve all heard the calls for me to drop out. We all know where they’re coming from. The political elite. The party bosses. Their cheerleaders in the commentator world,” Haley said in her speech. “They say I haven’t won a state. That my path to victory is slim. They point to the primary polls and say I’m only delaying the inevitable.”
Haley noted that only three states have voted so far and said that in the 10 days after South Carolina, another 21 states and territories would vote.
Haley has been on a fundraising blitz to raise money from deep-pocketed executives and business leaders eager for an alternative to a Trump rematch with Biden in November.
In recent weeks, she has sharpened her criticism of Trump, telling Republicans that the former president’s legal difficulties and string of political setbacks will only set the stage for more crushing defeats. Those attacks, though, have failed to dent the Republican frontrunner’s lead.
On Tuesday she repeated her oft-used refrains that Trump has “gotten more unstable and unhinged”.
“He’s getting meaner and more offensive by the day,” she said.
What if Biden or Trump leaves the 2024 US election race?
What if Biden or Trump leaves the 2024 US election race?
Trump, in recent days, has shown flashes of fury in response to Haley’s refusal to cede the nomination.
He called her “stupid” and “birdbrain” in a social media post over the weekend as part of a sustained campaign of personal insults.
Haley choked up during her address, speaking about her husband – a National Guardsman who is deployed – defending him from attacks from Trump who has questioned why he is not on the campaign trail with his wife.
“The kids and I know why Michael went. He stepped up to keep us safe – and not just us. He stepped up to defend our nation’s freedom and our way of life,” she said.
Trump has flexed his grip over the party, pressuring congressional Republicans to kill a bipartisan deal that would have tightened border security to deal with a migrant crisis on the US-Mexico border and tap new funding for Ukraine to aid Kyiv at a crucial point in its war against Russia’s invasion.
And he’s moved to increase his control over the party’s campaign apparatus, endorsing his daughter-in-law Lara Trump as a Republican National Committee co-chair with current Chair Ronna McDaniel in discussions to step down.
Still, Trump faces a slew of expensive civil and criminal legal cases, covering 91 felony counts, that threaten to strain his resources and divert his attention just as the general election campaign ramps up. His first criminal trial, in a case stemming from alleged hush money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels, is set to start on March 25.
Haley has cast Trump’s legal woes and controversies as a recipe for “chaos” – that threatens to undermine Republican efforts to oust Biden.
Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse and Associated Press