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Republican Presidential candidate Nikki Haley said on Friday that she was "disappointed" in Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel for suggesting that she should drop out of the 2024 presidential race.
On Wednesday, Haley lost to former President Donald Trump in the New Hampshire primary election, prompting McDaniel to suggest the former South Carolina governor and United Nations ambassador should end her campaign for the Republican nomination.
"I'm looking at the map and the path going forward, and I don't see it for Nikki Haley...I think she has run a great campaign, but I do think there is a message that is coming out from the voters which is very clear: 'We need to unite around our eventual nominee' which is going to be Donald Trump, 'and we need to make sure we beat Joe Biden,'" McDaniel told Fox News.
Haley said on America's Newsroom Friday morning that she spoke to McDaniel and expressed "how disappointed" she was with her comments.
"Let's look at the last 48 hours," Haley said. "Election night, Trump gets on stage, he throws an absolute temper tantrum, talking about revenge, but he says nothing about the American people."
Newsweek reached out to the Republican National Committee via its website for comment.
The New Hampshire primary ended with a Trump victory after he received 54.3 percent of votes, compared to 43.2 percent received by Haley, according to the Associated Press.
The former president also won the Iowa caucuses prior to New Hampshire, which resulted in Florida Governor Ron DeSantis suspending his campaign and endorsing Trump. Former Republican presidential candidates Tim Scott and Vivek Ramaswamy have ended their campaigns and have backed Trump in the race, as well.
"She's doing a speech like she won—she didn't win, she lost," Trump said during a speech after his victory in New Hampshire. "[Nikki Haley] came in third and she's still around."
During her appearance on America's Newsroom, Haley was asked about continuing her campaign after the primary race in South Carolina in February as well as other races on Super Tuesday in March.
"I wanted to be strong in Iowa, we did that. I wanted to be even stronger in New Hampshire, we did that. I want to be even stronger in South Carolina, we're gonna do that and then we're gonna go onto Super Tuesday," Haley said. "This is about continuing to build. Only two states have voted; we have 48 states left. You can't go and discount all of those voters who want to vote in this election."
"We're gonna keep going as long as we keep growing and I think that's what the American people want," Haley added.
Update 1/26/24, 11:42 a.m. ET: This article was updated with additional information and to note that Newsweek reached out to the Republican National Committee for comment.
About the writer
Matthew Impelli is a Newsweek staff writer based in New York. His focus is reporting social issues and crime. In ... Read more