Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) announced her support for Donald Trump on Monday, landing the former president yet another endorsement from the home state of Republican primary opponent Nikki Haley.
Mace’s announcement follows South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott (R) throwing his support to Trump on Friday. The former president has further secured the endorsements of South Carolina Republican Reps. Russell Fry, Joe Wilson, and William Timmons.
Mace told The Associated Press on Tuesday, one day ahead of the New Hampshire primary, that she’s supporting Trump over Haley. Notably, Haley lives in Mace’s congressional district and backed Mace in 2022 against a Trump-supported challenger, The Washington Post noted.
“I don’t see eye to eye perfectly with any candidate. And until now I’ve stayed out of it. But the time has come to unite behind our nominee,” Mace said.
Haley, who served as South Carolina’s governor from 2011 to 2017, is the last Republican remaining in the 2024 primary to oppose Trump, following Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis announcing the suspension of his presidential bid on Sunday.
Haley has put her focus on Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary, where voters tend to be more moderate and unaffiliated voters are allowed to cast votes in the Republican primary. Still, Trump is the favorite in the race, with a recent CNN poll putting him ahead of Haley 50% to 39%.
The South Carolina primary will be held next month, and Haley is again behind Trump. In polling, which was notably taken before DeSantis’ campaign suspension, Trump leads with 64% to Haley’s 25%. DeSantis polled at 8%. Even if Haley fully picked up Desantis’ supporters, she would still fall short of Trump.
Sen. Scott on Friday came out swinging for Trump, arguing that his leadership in the White House is needed for our country.
“We need a president who will close our southern border today,” he said during a campaign stop with Trump. “We need Donald Trump. We need a president who will unite our country. We need Donald Trump. We need a president who will protect your Social Security and my mama’s Social Security. We need Donald Trump, who will stop the crime and recklessness in the streets. We need a president who will restore law and order. We need a president who will lower taxes and not raise our taxes.”
DeSantis, too, backed Trump in remarks he made Sunday. “It’s clear to me that a majority of Republican primary voters want to give Donald Trump another chance. They watched his presidency get stymied by relentless resistance, and they see Democrats using lawfare this day to attack him,” the Florida governor said. “I signed a pledge to support the Republican nominee, and I will honor that pledge.”
DeSantis also took a swipe at Haley, saying he backed Trump “because we can’t go back to the old Republican Guard of yesteryear, a repackaged form of warmed over corporatism that Nikki Haley represents.”
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