EXETER, New Hampshire — Former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley touted a “two-person” race at an event with Judge Judy Sunday night, mere hours after Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) suspended his presidential campaign.
“Can you hear that sound? That’s the sound of a two-person race,” Haley said to roaring approval from the crowd.
DeSantis’s exit from the race means that the New Hampshire primary is down to two viable candidates: Haley and former President Donald Trump.
Earlier Sunday afternoon, DeSantis ended his campaign and endorsed Trump in a video posted on social media. “I can’t ask our supporters to volunteer their time and donate their resources if we don’t have a clear path to victory,” DeSantis said. “Accordingly, I am, today, suspending my campaign.”
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Haley had originally said that “things were changing fast” in the immediate news after the DeSantis news broke. The former South Carolina governor had claimed the GOP primary was a “two-person” race during the Iowa caucuses last week, but both Trump and DeSantis had finished above Haley, who earned third place.
With DeSantis out of the race, Haley’s words have now proven to be true.
Haley’s event, which featured Judge Judy, whose legal name is Judith Sheindlin, comes just two days before the Granite State’s primary on Tuesday.
Sheindlin implored the crowd to vote for Haley on Tuesday in her uphill battle to either snatch victory out of the hands of Trump or finish in a close second place.
“This woman is the real deal,” Sheindlin said of Haley.
Haley trails Trump by 15 percentage points, according to a RealClearPolitics New Hampshire poll average. But her campaign is counting on moderates and independents to bolster her campaign on Tuesday.
A key Haley backer, Gov. Chris Sununu (R-NH), warned the crowd of Haley supporters that a Trump-led 2024 ticket will prove disastrous for the GOP in a rematch against President Joe Biden.
“I’m tired of losing, I’m tired of losers, and I’m sure as hell tired of Donald Trump,” Sununu said as the crowd drowned him out, clapping.
Trump’s campaign brought out a delegation of South Carolina lawmakers, including Gov. Henry McMaster (R-SC), at a rally Saturday night in a show of force meant to embarrass Haley on her 52nd birthday.
But the former South Carolina two-term governor brushed off the intimidation.
“And then they said, ‘What do you say about the fact that the governor of South Carolina came to New Hampshire to campaign against you’? And I would say, ‘You mean the guy that I beat when I ran for governor’?” she quipped.
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A climate protester interrupted Haley as she spoke to the crowd for roughly 30 minutes. The man held a sign that read “OIL SELLOUT.” He was promptly escorted out by security.
But Haley remained calm by the disturbance. “I am always happy to see a protester because my husband and our military men and women sacrifice every day for them to be able to have the right to do that,” she said before continuing her speech.
