Nikki Haley says no to vice presidency

Haley faced a blow last week, with senator Tim Scott, first nominated by Haley, backed Trump

• Pramod Thomas
• 24 January, 2024

By: Pramod Thomas

NIKKI HALEY made it clear to New Hampshire voters: She won’t serve as former president Donald Trump’s vice president if he wins the Republican nomination.

Haley, who’s challenging Trump for the Republican presidential nod, has long said she won’t “play for second.”

She explicitly ruled out being a running mate in November, media reports said.

“I don’t want to be anybody’s vice president. That is off the table,” Haley told voters at a diner stop in Amherst, New Hampshire, Politico and the Washington Post reported.

“I have always said that. That is a game they play that I’m not going to play. I don’t want to be vice president,” Haley added, according to the Post.

Meanwhile, Trump is set to face off with president Joe Biden for the White House once again after winning the New Hampshire primary.

The only remaining challenger for the Republican presidential nomination, Haley, vowed to fight on — but her defeat on Tuesday (23) left her with no realistic chance of chasing down the 77-year-old former president.

Haley on Tuesday sought to warn Republican voters away from rival Trump after he defeated her in the primary, saying nominating the controversial former president would spell victory for Biden in November.

Earlier this month, Trump said he knows who his running mate will be if he wins the nomination but declined to name anyone.

Haley, who served as Trump’s ambassador to the UN, had hoped for a major upset in the northeastern state, but Trump won by around 54 per cent to 43 per cent, with some 91 per cent of votes counted.

She also faced a blow on Friday (19), with fellow South Carolinian Tim Scott, a US senator first nominated by Haley, backed Trump.

“Oh man. I’m so excited for the announcement tonight,” Scott said in a video taken in front of a Trump-marked plane and posted on X. “Let’s talk about four more years.”

Scott, who had also challenged Trump for the Republican Party’s nomination but ended his campaign last year, endorsed his former rival at a rally Friday night in Concord, a source told Reuters.

As South Carolina governor, Haley tapped then US representative Scott to fill a Senate vacancy in 2012.

“Tim Scott wouldn’t have a job without Nikki Haley,” New Hampshire governor Chris Sununu, a Republican backing Haley, said in a Fox News interview, according to the Washington Post.

“Nobody cares,” Sununu said of the endorsement as he chatted with restaurant patrons in Milford, the New York Times reported.

(Agencies)