Speaking to supporters in Charleston, Haley said she would not quit the race despite her four consecutive losses.
Trump won the South Carolina primary over Haley, who is from that state, in a major blow that reduces her already slim chances of getting the nomination.
The Associated Press declared Trump the winner as soon as the polls closed at 7pm ET, showing his strong lead in Haley’s home state. Trump got about 60% of the vote, while Haley got around 40%.
South Carolina voters usually pick the party’s final nominee, and Trump is likely to secure the Republican nomination well before the party’s convention in Milwaukee in the summer.
Trump had swept the early voting states, earning wins – and delegates – in Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada. Defeating Haley, who was his UN ambassador, in her home state hurts her campaign even more, pushing the nomination further away from her.
Speaking to supporters in Charleston, Haley said she would not quit the race despite her four consecutive losses, claiming that Trump cannot beat Joe Biden in the general election.
Haley’s campaign said on Friday it was starting a “seven-figure” national cable and digital campaign before Super Tuesday on 5 March. On Sunday she will hold a rally in Michigan, which has its primary on 27 February, and then travel across several Super Tuesday states.
Her decision to stay in the race has annoyed Trump and his allies. They say Haley, who has likened herself to David fighting Goliath, has no way to win, and accuse her of depending on rich donors to keep her hopeless bid going and only delay the inevitable.
However, Haley’s supporters say they appreciate her role in the race as a sign of what a future Republican party could be. Some think the 52-year-old Haley is preparing for a future presidential run, or making herself the clear alternative in the rare event Trump cannot be the party’s nominee.
Trump faces 91 felony charges as well as growing legal costs and huge financial penalties that he has used his campaign fund to help cover. At her events, Haley tells voters that it is “not normal” for a candidate to spend more time in court than on the campaign trail, or to ask donors to pay his legal fees.
But Trump’s legal troubles, which partly result from his attempts to reverse the 2020 presidential election and his role in the 6 January attack on the US Capitol, have only increased his support.
Lately, Trump’s campaign has already begun to focus on the general election fight against Biden, who is easily getting his party’s nomination without a serious primary challenge.
Even as Haley has sworn to stay in the primary race as long as she can, Trump has made it clear that he is already looking ahead to the general election. When he spoke to his supporters in Columbia, Trump said that his big win in South Carolina would soon be repeated in Michigan, which has its primary on Tuesday.
