Nikki Haley’s announcement in Charleston, S.C. that she’s suspending her presidential campaign had an immediate impact on Republican politics in the Granite State — particularly in the GOP primary for governor.
“The time has now come to suspend my campaign. I have no regrets,” said Haley, who won more than 140,000 votes and 43 percent of the New Hampshire Republican primary total.
And while Haley declined to endorse Trump, in New Hampshire Republicans didn’t waste any time getting on board with the presumptive nominee.
“With Ambassador Haley suspending her campaign today, the NHGOP considers President Trump our presumptive nominee,” New Hampshire state GOP chair Chris Ager said in a message to the state party’s executive board. “Neutrality in the Presidential campaign is no longer required and I urge everyone to support the Trump Campaign to the fullest extent possible.”
“The choice is now clear: four more years of Biden’s disastrous policies, or a return to peace and prosperity under a Trump administration,” Ager told NHJournal in a statement.
In the GOP primary for governor, former state Senate President Chuck Morse has been an outspoken Trump advocate for months. He showed up to vote in the First in the Nation primary with a cadre of Trump-sign-waving supporters.
His opponent, former U.S. Senator Kelly Ayotte, has only said that she would support the Republican nominee. After Haley’s announcement, Ayotte released a statement endorsing the former president.
“As I have said from the beginning, I will support our Republican nominee for President. This election is now a choice between Trump and Biden, and my choice is President Trump,” Ayotte said.
“Under President Biden, our country’s safety and prosperity have diminished and it is apparent that Biden’s cognitive decline renders him unfit to serve another four years. Regardless of who is elected President, my priority will always be the people of New Hampshire and as Governor, I look forward to fighting for them every day to keep our state safe, prosperous and free.”
Ayotte lost her 2016 bid for re-election by just 1,017 votes to Maggie Hassan, a defeat many pundits attribute to Ayotte’s withdrawal of her endorsement of Trump a month before the general election. Ayotte was responding to the release of the Access Hollywood tapes in which Trump used vulgar language and described grabbing women, which Ayotte described as “assault.”
“I thought about years from now, when my daughter Kate is old enough to know what is in those tapes and to understand what he is talking about, I want her to know where I stood,” Ayotte said at the time. “I cannot vote for Donald Trump based on what he has said and done and the actions he talked about in those tapes. And I want my daughter to know that.”
“That is more important to me than winning any election,” she added.
Gov. Chris Sununu, perhaps Haley’s most ardent advocate (and who repeatedly predicted Trump would not be the nominee) released a statement praising the South Carolina governor after her announcement.
“Nikki Haley was the first candidate into the arena to challenge Donald Trump, and knocked everyone else out of the race,” Sununu said. “Nikki is a Patriot and a friend who ran a great campaign, and made sure it was the voters, not the media or party elites, who had the final say.”
Sununu’s statement did not mention supporting the presumptive GOP nominee, though he has repeatedly pledged in the past to support the party’s pick if it’s Trump.
One person who didn’t sound interested in unifying the party Wednesday morning: Donald Trump.
“Nikki Haley got TROUNCED last night, in record setting fashion,” he posted on social media. “Much of her money came from Radical Left Democrats, as did many of her voters, almost 50% according to the polls. At this point, I hope she stays in the ‘race’ and fights it out until the end!”
Although Trump did add later in the post that he would “like to invite all the Haley supporters to join the greatest movement in the history of our Nation.”
UNH Political Science professor Dante Scala said getting Haley voters on board is a vital mission for New Hampshire Republicans, and one they will struggle to accomplish.
“The Haley voters will matter in the [November] general election, when the New Hampshire GOP will again have to confront the fact that educational attainment divides and weakens their party’s base. And their gubernatorial nominee will have to try to emulate Sununu’s success in getting voters to split their tickets – voting for Democrats for federal offices, but then Republican for governor and state legislature.”
As for the state primary in September, when candidates for governor, congress and state legislature face off, Scala says “Haley voters will matter less because many will not show up to participate.”
“The GOP primary universe of voters in September is bound to be significantly smaller, and Trumpier, than the electorate that voted in January.”
DEVELOPING….
