Washington — Nikki Haley, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said Tuesday that she has no plans of ending her bid for the GOP presidential nomination despite placing second behind former President Donald Trump in the New Hampshire Republican primary.
"This race is far from over," she told a crowd of supporters who gathered in Concord, New Hampshire, for an election watch party. "There are dozens of states left to go and the next one is my sweet state of South Carolina."
Haley has won 43% of the vote in New Hampshire with 33% in, while Trump has garnered 55% of the vote. Still, the former South Carolina governor noted that during the 2024 campaign, the field of Republican presidential hopefuls has dwindled from 14 to now just two.
"I'm a fighter, and I'm scrappy, and now we're the last ones standing next to Donald Trump," she said.
CBS News projects that Trump will win the New Hampshire primary, a victory that cements his status as the clear front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination. Though Haley had been closing the gap with Trump in the weeks leading up to the first-in-the-nation primary contest — and began the day on a high note, winning all six votes in Dixville Notch — her efforts to court moderate and undeclared voters were not enough to loosen Trump's hold on the GOP.
The former president's win in New Hampshire follows his decisive first-place finish in the Iowa caucuses. The winners of the primary in the Granite State in the last four competitive election cycles, including Trump in 2016, have all gone on to secure the party's presidential nomination.
Haley escalated her criticism of Trump in the days leading up to the primary, and on Tuesday, lamented that Republicans lost control of the Senate and House with Trump leading the the party.
"We lost in 2018. We lost in 2020 and we lost in 2022," she told supporters at her watch party. "The worst kept secret in politics is how badly the Democrats want to run against Donald Trump. They know Trump is the only Republican in the country who Joe Biden can defeat."
Haley has sought to position herself as an alternative to Trump who agrees with his policies but does not come with the "negativity and chaos" she says follow him. She has also argued that it's time for a younger generation of leaders, highlighting Trump's recent slip-up during a campaign event in which he confused Haley with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
"The first party to retire it's 80-year-old candidate is going to be the party that wins the election," Haley said. President Biden is 81 years old and Trump is 77.
Turning to South Carolina, the next major showdown in the 2024 Republican primary, Haley touted her record while serving as governor there from 2011 to 2017, predicting voters' familiarity with her and her policies will make it more difficult for Trump to attack her. The state's conservative primary electorate, however, is expected to be highly favorable to Trump.
"South Carolina voters don't want a coronation," Hakey said. "They want an election, and we're going to give them one because we're just getting started."
Haley noted that millions of voters across the country still have to cast their ballots and said, "We should honor them and allow them to vote."
"Our fight is not over because we have a country to save," she said.
Melissa Quinn is a politics reporter for CBSNews.com. She has written for outlets including the Washington Examiner, Daily Signal and Alexandria Times. Melissa covers U.S. politics, with a focus on the Supreme Court and federal courts.
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