Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is expected to withdraw her candidacy in the Republican primary for the White House, according to the Wall Street Journal, citing sources close to Haley’s campaign.
Haley, who has remained the lone obstacle between Donald Trump and the formal GOP presidential nomination, is slated to announce her decision in a speech Wednesday morning. The move comes just hours after the former president’s triumph on Super Tuesday, when Trump won 13 of 14 Republican primary elections, including Texas and California, picking up nearly 1,000 delegates.
Haley, and former U.S. ambassador to the UN under Trump, had promised to continue competing at least until Super Tuesday. Indeed, in recent weeks she had begun to intensify her criticism of the former president, questioning his mental abilities and lumping him with Joe Biden in the “grumpy old man” category.
Despite the rout, Haley became the first Republican woman to win both the Vermont and District of Columbia primaries. However, such pyrrhic victories were not enough to give her a substantial number of delegates.
A 2020 rematch between Biden and Trump to win the White House is now virtually certain to take place in November.
