Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley is hinting that her flagging Republican presidential campaign is winding down soon despite her recent public pledge to fight onward through Super Tuesday.
The former governor suffered another decisive loss in her South Carolina home state Saturday, winning just 40 percent of Republican votes.
The Koch brothers super PAC, Americans For Prosperity, announced they “wholeheartedly” support Haley’s continued campaign but will stop donating to the effort to “focus our resources where we can make the difference,” a signal that the end is coming.
“But given the challenges in the primary states ahead, we don’t believe any outside group can make a material difference to widen her path to victory,” the PAC’s statement read. “And so while we will continue to endorse her, we will focus our resources where we can make a difference. And that’s the U.S. Senate and House.”
Haley trails badly in all the upcoming primary states and national polling of Republican Party voters. Her pathway toward an implausible nomination comeback over frontrunner Donald Trump became even more narrow on Saturday.
Haley’s campaign said she would crisscross multiple regions in one last push to shift her fortunes before her expected departure.
At least ten more campaign fundraising events are scheduled in the next ten days — but insiders admit that resources are dwindling and acknowledged to Politico that the campaign to beat Trump has extremely long odds.
But they also complain that Trump’s intensifying attacks urging her to “switch parties” as alienating to moderates and potential swing voters.
He’d already blasted Haley as “essentially a Democrat” amidst crushing defeats in early-voting states.
Trump’s campaign has swept to a large victory in every contest so far, and added the South Carolina victory over the weekend to prior wins in Iowa, New Hampshire, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Nevada.
With donor money drying up and Haley’s increasingly long odds, the end is near for Trump’s last major Republican rival.
The Horn editorial team