Nikki Haley decided to suspend her bid for the presidential seat on Wednesday, met with resounding defeat on Super Tuesday across the nation. This leaves Donald Trump as the solitary major contender for the 2024 Republican nomination.

In her speech in Charleston, South Carolina, Haley refrained from endorsing the former president. Instead, she threw down the gauntlet, challenging him to secure the backing of moderate Republicans and independent voters who had been in her corner.

“It is now incumbent upon Donald Trump to garner the votes of those within and beyond our party who did not rally behind him. I sincerely hope he accomplishes that,” she asserted. “At its zenith, politics revolves around drawing people into your cause, not alienating them. And our conservative agenda undeniably requires broader support.”

Haley, a former governor of South Carolina and U.N. ambassador, emerged as Trump’s initial substantial competitor when she entered the race in February 2023. During the concluding phase of her campaign, she vehemently cautioned the GOP against embracing Trump, contending that he was too entangled in chaos and personal grievances to vanquish President Joe Biden in the general election.

Her exit paves the way for Trump to concentrate solely on his likely rematch with Biden in November. The ex-president is on course to secure the requisite 1,215 delegates for the Republican nomination later this month.

Haley’s defeat constitutes a poignant, albeit foreseeable, setback for those voters, donors, and Republican Party officials who resisted Trump and his fervent brand of “Make America Great Again” politics. She enjoyed particular favor among moderates and college-educated voters, demographics that may prove pivotal in the general election. Whether Trump can ultimately unite a deeply fractured party remains uncertain, especially after his recent proclamation that Haley supporters would be permanently barred from his movement.

Scheduled to address donors via Zoom on Wednesday afternoon, Haley seems poised to maintain her stance. While Trump asserted on Tuesday night that the GOP stood united behind him, Haley’s spokesperson, Olivia Perez-Cubas, countered, “Unity is not achieved by simply claiming, ‘We’re united.'”

“Presently, in state after state, a substantial bloc of Republican primary voters continues to voice profound concerns about Donald Trump,” Perez-Cubas emphasized. “That is not the unity our party needs for success. Addressing those voters’ concerns will enhance the Republican Party and America as a whole.”

Haley has explicitly expressed her disinclination to serve as Trump’s vice president or participate in a third-party ticket arranged by the group No Labels. Exiting the race, she retains an elevated national profile that could prove advantageous in any future presidential endeavors.

In the aftermath of her speech, Trump’s campaign circulated a fundraising email incorrectly claiming Haley’s endorsement, without an immediate response to a request for clarification. This week, Haley repudiated a pledge requiring GOP contenders to support the party’s eventual nominee for participation in primary debates.

On social media, Trump persisted in ridiculing his erstwhile rival while concurrently extending an invitation to “all of the Haley supporters to join the greatest movement in the history of our Nation. BIDEN IS THE ENEMY, HE IS DESTROYING OUR COUNTRY,” he proclaimed. “MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!”

Biden, on the other hand, welcomed voters who had backed Haley, acknowledging Trump’s prior rejection of her supporters. “Donald Trump made it clear he doesn’t want Nikki Haley’s supporters. I want to be clear: There is a place for them in my campaign,” Biden declared. “I know there is a lot we won’t agree on. But on the fundamental issues of preserving American democracy, on standing up for the rule of law, on treating each other with decency and dignity and respect, on preserving NATO and standing up to America’s adversaries, I hope and believe we can find common ground.”

A group that initially targeted independents and Democrats to vote for Haley over Trump in Republican primaries is now redirecting those voters to support Biden in November. Primary Pivot, on Wednesday, announced a shift with a new initiative — Haley Voters for Biden — potentially urging Democrats to revert to supporting their party’s probable nominee.

By persisting in the campaign until now, Haley managed to garner enough support from suburbanites and college-educated voters, underscoring Trump’s apparent vulnerabilities with these groups.

In AP VoteCast surveys conducted among Republican primary and caucus voters in Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina, between 61% and 76% of Haley’s supporters expressed profound dissatisfaction with the prospect of Trump becoming the GOP nominee. Voters in early Republican head-to-head contests who vowed not to vote for Trump in the fall constituted a small but significant segment of the electorate: 2 in 10 Iowa voters, one-third of New Hampshire voters, and one-quarter of South Carolina voters.

Haley exits the 2024 presidential race having etched her name in history as the first woman to triumph in a Republican primary contest. She secured victories over Trump in the District of Columbia on Sunday and in Vermont on Tuesday.

Despite initially ruling out a run against Trump in 2024, Haley defied expectations and launched her bid three months after his candidacy, citing the nation’s economic woes and the imperative for “generational change.” At 52, she later advocated for competency tests for politicians over the age of 75 — a veiled critique aimed at both Trump, 77, and Biden, 81.

Although her candidacy struggled initially to attract donors and support, Haley outlasted all other GOP rivals, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence, and Sen. Tim Scott. Money continued to pour in until the final stages, with her campaign reporting a fundraising total exceeding $12 million in February alone.

Her popularity extended to Republican donors, independent voters, and the “Never Trump” faction, despite her criticism of the criminal cases against Trump as politically motivated. She pledged that, if elected president, she would pardon him if convicted in federal court.