The day after Donald Trump officially became the Republican Party’s nominee for the 2024 presidential election and chose Sen. JD Vance of Ohio as his running mate, attention shifted to Trump’s last major rival from the primary elections at the Republican National Convention.
Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina who also served as the U.N. ambassador under Trump, will speak at the convention on Tuesday. Multiple sources confirmed this decision to Fox News over the weekend.
Just last week, Haley hadn’t been invited to speak and had no plans to attend the four-day convention held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, an important state in elections.
Following the assassination attempt on Saturday at a rally in western Pennsylvania, where former President Trump narrowly escaped harm with a grazing bullet wound to his ear, the GOP swiftly rallied around him. Tragically, one spectator lost their life, and two others were critically injured. In a display of unity, Haley was invited to address the convention.
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Haley had launched her presidential campaign in February the previous year, positioning herself as the first major challenger to Trump, who had declared his candidacy three months earlier. Her bid culminated in a heated showdown with Trump, spanning from the New Hampshire primary in late January through Super Tuesday in early March.
On March 6, Haley suspended her White House campaign, conceding after Trump’s sweeping victories in 14 out of 15 GOP nominating contests on Super Tuesday. Despite withdrawing, she maintained a significant share of up to 20% in subsequent Republican primaries.
In late May, Haley publicly endorsed Trump, marking her support after garnering a total of 97 delegates during the primaries. Last week, she released all her delegates, urging them to back Trump.
In an interview with Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade, Trump referenced past tensions with Haley, noting “there was a lot of bad blood there, and she stayed too long.” Comparing her exit strategy unfavorably with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’, who withdrew earlier, Trump remarked that Haley should have exited the race sooner.
The second night of the convention also spotlighted several high-profile Republican Senate candidates addressing delegates at Milwaukee’s Fiserv Forum. With a favorable Senate electoral map, the GOP aims to regain the majority lost in the 2020 election cycle.
Tuesday’s session followed Monday’s major developments, including Trump’s announcement of his running mate ahead of his formal nomination. Vance, a 39-year-old senator and staunch Trump supporter, was chosen, emphasizing Trump’s enduring influence on the Republican Party.
Vance, known for his background as a venture capitalist and author of the bestselling memoir “Hillbilly Elegy,” emerged as a leading contender among a group that included North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida. Sources revealed that Rubio and Burgum were informed shortly before Trump’s announcement that they were not selected.
According to insiders close to Vance, the senator learned of his selection just 20 minutes before Trump’s public revelation on the Truth Social platform.