Indian-American Republican leader Nikki Haley has endorsed her former boss, Donald Trump, as the party’s candidate for the presidential election, delivering a message of unity after their bitter rivalry during the presidential primary.
Haley, 52, unsuccessfully challenged Trump, 78, for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination and spent months sparring with the former president. However, last week, she instructed her 97 delegates to vote for Trump at the convention, calling for unity in the party.
I’ll start by making one thing perfectly clear. Donald Trump has my strong endorsement.
Our country is at a critical moment. We have a choice to make. For more than a year, I said a vote for Joe Biden is a vote for President Kamala Harris. After seeing the debate, everyone…
— Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) July 17, 2024
Trump is set to deliver his acceptance speech on Thursday. Haley, who was the only Republican leader to seriously challenge Trump during the primaries, told thousands of delegates and party leaders that Trump is the best bet for the country and that the Republicans are united to defeat incumbent President Joe Biden.
“Let us join together as a party. Let us come together as a people — as one country – strong and proud. Let us show our children and the world that even on our worst day, we are blessed to live in America,” said the former South Carolina governor and US Ambassador to the United Nations.
I haven’t always agreed with President Trump. But we agree far more often than we disagree.
We agree on keeping America strong.
We agree on keeping America safe.
And we agree that the Democrats have moved so far to the Left that they’re putting our freedoms in…
— Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) July 17, 2024
“Our country is at a critical moment. We have a choice to make. For more than a year, I said a vote for Joe Biden is a vote for President Kamala Harris. After seeing the debate, everyone knows it’s true,” Haley said. “If we have four more years of Biden . . . or a single day of Harris . . . our country will be badly worse off. For the sake of our nation, we have to go with Donald Trump.”
Trump was present at the convention center when she spoke. Trump and his running mate, Senator J. D. Vance, gave a standing ovation to Haley when she started her speech and endorsed him.
“Our foreign enemies win when they see Americans hate each other. They see that today, whether it’s on college campuses or in a field in Butler, Pennsylvania. But we can conquer those fears with strength and unity,” she said.
