MANCHESTER, NH – A rude Gov. Chris Sununu has a message for Nikki Haley’s rivals for the Republican presidential nomination – it’s time to get out of the race.
“It’s a race between two people – Nikki Haley and Donald Trump. That’s it,” Sununu said as he spoke to reporters after endorsing Haley for president on Tuesday, at an event in town hall at a ski lodge in New Hampshire’s largest city.
Sununu, the popular Republican governor of the state that holds the first primary and second general contests on the GOP presidential nominating calendar, emphasized that “with all due respect to all the other candidates, it’s a race of two people at this point.”
The endorsement is likely to have little immediate impact on the former president, who remains the lead in the GOP nomination as he makes his third straight run at the White House.
‘WE’RE ALL IN’ – SUNUNU BACKS HALEY IN MAJOR 2024 ENDORSEMENT
Endorsed by Republican Gov. Chris Sununu of New Hampshire (right) is the former ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, at a campaign event in Manchester NH on Dec. 12, 2023 (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
But Sununu’s eager support of Haley, the former two-term governor of South Carolina who later served as ambassador to the United Nations in the Trump administration, is seen as a setback for the two other presidential candidates. Republican who also runs the land. the endorsement – former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
“Chris and Ron ran great campaigns. Both are great friends. Great governors in their own right,” Sununu said in an interview with Fox News Digital after endorsing Haley.
SUNUNU WITH HALEY, DESANTIS, AND CHRISTIE AS SHE DECIDES ON A 2024 ENDORSEMENT
But he added that one of the reasons he chose to endorse Haley was that “she’s really connecting on the campaign trail. Her numbers are moving.”
“I’m behind Nikki Haley. I think they should all come out in the open, including former President Trump. I think everyone should kind of clear the way,” Sununu said when asked about her rivals. Hayley.
But he was quick to admit that “they will continue to campaign.”
Republican presidential candidate and former US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley is endorsed by New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu at a campaign town hall in Manchester, New Hampshire, on December 12, 2023. (REUTERS/Brian Snyder)
Sununu’s endorsement of Haley looks like a big blow to Christie, who, as he did in his unsuccessful 2016 bid for the White House, is once again betting it all on New Hampshire.
Sununu told Fox News that he had not spoken to Christie before his endorsement of Haley.
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Haley, who was asked by Fox News whether Christie should drop out of the race after landing Sununu’s endorsement, said that “Chris is my friend and I would never tell anyone to drop out of the race. This was a personal issue to come in. It was a personal decision to come out. That was Chris’ decision.”
Sununu will join Haley for three more campaign events Wednesday and Thursday in New Hampshire. The governor will join Haley across the Granite State while Christie returns Wednesday to New Hampshire for two events.
Christie’s campaign, in a statement, emphasized that Sununu’s endorsement of Haley “puts us one vote down in New Hampshire and when Governor Christie returns to Londonderry tomorrow, he will continue to say flawless that truth about Donald Trump and get one lost vote. and thousands more.”
CHRISTIE RAISES HIS GAME TO A MAJOR STATE
As he sought to secure Sununu’s endorsement, Christie emphasized that when it comes to Trump, he and the New Hampshire governor are on the same page, as two of the former president’s most vocal GOP critics.
“Who does he want to stand up to Donald Trump when it comes to one-on-one? Who does he think can take him on in a direct way? Who says the same things as Chris Sununu said last time several years about Donald Trump, trying to move the party in a new direction? And I think I’m the person with the clearest, loudest voice on that,” Christie emphasized in an interview with Fox News Digital a few weeks ago .
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (right), who is running for the second time for the Republican presidential nomination, works with New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (center) at a town hall in Nashua, NH on Nov. 2023. (Fox News)
Christie in recent weeks has also stepped up his criticism of Haley’s more measured jabs at Trump.
Haley, at Tuesday’s event, reiterated her familiar line that Trump is “the right president at the right time.”
Asked if Haley’s more passive attacks on Trump were an issue, Sununu told Fox News “not at all.”
“A candidate has to talk about what’s about them, not just what’s not. There’s a lot that isn’t there. But I think Nikki’s done a great job not just talking about him but what she’s about,” he argued.
And Haley emphasized to reporters that “I am talking about my differences with Trump.”
“Anti-Trumpers don’t think I hate him enough. Pro-Trumpers don’t think I love him enough,” she added. “At the end of the day I put my facts out there and let the chips fall where they may.”
Haley, who has enjoyed momentum in the polls in recent months thanks in part to well-received performances in the first three GOP presidential primary debates, leapfrogged DeSantis for second place in New Hampshire and his home state, which holds the first southern tournament. Christie is in third place in most of the latest surveys in New Hampshire.
Haley also intends to battle it out in Iowa — the state where the Jan. 15 caucuses lead the GOP nominating calendar. The latest polls suggest he is close to pulling even with DeSantis for a distant second place behind Trump.
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While Sununu’s endorsement of Haley is also a setback for DeSantis, it probably won’t hurt as much as it does for Christie.
DeSantis is mostly focused on Iowa, where he enjoys the endorsement of Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds. He is also supported by Bob Vander Plaats, president of The Family Leader, a leading social conservative organization in a state where evangelical voters play a large role in Republican politics.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (left), a 2024 Republican presidential candidate, briefly teamed up with GOP Gov. Chris Sununu of New Hampshire, on August 19, 2023 in Londonderry, NH (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
DeSantis, who spends most of his time in Iowa, is expected to return to New Hampshire on Friday.
“What happens in New Hampshire will be greatly affected by the outcome in Iowa, where the real Trump alternative will emerge. And when Ron DeSantis emerges from that position, he will be joined by more than 60 New Hampshire state legislators who are ready to accept fighting the establishment and their candidates in the past to return power to conservative grassroots,” DeSantis campaign spokesman Andrew Romeo argued in a statement.
And in an Iowa town hall hosted by CNN, DeSantis on Tuesday night argued that “even a campaigner as good as Chris Sununu can’t make a paper about Nikki Haley as an establishment candidate.”
Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more in our Fox News Digital election hub.
