Nikki Haley Launching Third-Party 'No Labels' Run, GOP Consultant Predicts

Ari Fleischer, former White House press secretary for President George W. Bush, said Nikki Haley's speech on Saturday night sounded like a "No Labels" one after she lost to Donald Trump in South Carolina's GOP primary.

Despite losing in her home state, Haley, a former governor of South Carolina, refused to suspend her campaign and vowed: "We will keep fighting."

Fleischer pointed to Haley's margins with independent voters and the wording in her speech to back up his claims that the former United Nations ambassador may be the ultimate pick for the "No Labels" organization's ticket.

According to Fox News' voter analysis, Haley won independent voters in South Carolina by 19 percentage points.

On a Fox News panel after the South Carolina primary, Fleischer, a contributor on the network and a media consultant, said, "I've been around a lot of these candidate speeches, I've written a few. That was a 'No Labels' speech tonight by Nikki Haley. That was a speech, when she says, 'No matter what I am running.' When she trashes Joe Biden, trashes Donald Trump, she is setting herself up to run down the middle."

Fleischer continued: "But when you look at independent voters, she sees a huge group out there. And when you look at the country, independent voters are 43 percent of the country, Republicans are 27 percent, Democrats are 27 percent."

Newsweek reached out to the Haley campaign and Fleischer on Sunday morning for comment. This story will be updated with any provided statements.

Fleischer's comments were backed up when "No Labels" national director, Joe Cunningham, told Fox & Friends Sunday that he's "definitely" interested in having Haley as their candidate if and when she drops out of the GOP race.

"The truth is, we're talking to a lot of spectacular people right now, and we're not ready to unveil those folks just yet," Cunningham said.

He added: "Nikki Haley, she's remaining in the race. You can't count her out completely. And hats off to her for staying in and for sticking with it. But we're looking for great quality people, and folks that have broad appeal to independents, Democrats, Republicans. And, yeah, I mean, Nikki Haley's somebody we'd definitely be interested in."

Cunningham, a former U.S. House representative of South Carolina, said the organization won't be deciding on the "No Labels" candidate until after Super Tuesday, which is on March 5. Haley has consistently said that she is staying in the GOP race until Super Tuesday when 15 states, or just over a third of all delegates, are up for grabs.

In an appearance on Fox News on Tuesday, Haley disputed reports that she has considered running as a third-party candidate on the "No Labels" ticket.

"My focus is running in a Republican primary. It always has been," she told Fox News' Martha MacCallum.

In addition to her potential with independent and moderate voters in a general election, Fleischer also said he could "just feel it" when watching Haley's speech Saturday night.

"So she is looking ahead and seeing a swath down the middle that does not like Biden, does not like Trump. I can just feel it, I watched it, my reaction was immediate, she is declaring," he said on Saturday. "Why wouldn't she drop out of the race? She sees herself on the runway to something new. When you see yourself on the runway, you don't pull your plane off the runway, you get ready to take off."

In an X, formerly Twitter post, Fleischer wrote later on Saturday night, "I received an email from a Haley spokeswoman responding by saying, 'Nikki is very happy with the Republican label and has zero interest in No Labels.'"