Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley is already looking forward to the next nominating contest in the GOP primary season after a disappointing third-place finish in the Iowa caucuses.
Former President Donald Trump handily won the caucuses Monday night and is on track to win by the largest margin in modern presidential primary history with 51% of the vote with 95% of the vote counted.
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Haley is trailing behind Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) 21.2% to 19.1% as of 11:41 p.m. Eastern time in their bitter battle over second place in the GOP field behind Trump.
Yet Haley attempted to spin the results positively. “I can safely say tonight Iowa made this Republican primary a two-person race,” Haley said to an enthusiastic crowd of supporters. “Tonight, I will be back in the great state of New Hampshire. And the question before Americans is now very clear. Do you want more of the same or do you want a new generation of conservative leadership?”
The third-place finish dampens Haley’s momentum as she looks forward to the Jan. 23 New Hampshire primary. Haley had overtaken DeSantis in some early-nominating state polls for second place before finishing behind DeSantis on Monday night.
But the former South Carolina governor argued that voters are tired of both Trump and President Joe Biden.
“Trump and Biden both lack a vision for our country’s future because both are consumed by the past, by investigations, by vendettas, by grievances. America deserves better,” Haley said.
She later added, “Our campaign is the last best hope of stopping the Trump-Biden nightmare.”
DeSantis, however, remained defiant, saying he would not drop out and criticizing outlets who called the caucuses for Trump before voters had a chance to decide. “They were just so excited about the fact that they were predicting that we wouldn’t be able to get our ticket punched here out of Iowa,” DeSantis said in his speech Monday evening. “But I can tell you because of your support, in spite of all of that that they threw at us, everyone against us, we’ve got our ticket punched out of Iowa.”
Biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, who came in fourth place, dropped out of the race on Monday night and endorsed Trump.
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But Haley, who has the endorsement of Gov. Chris Sununu (R-NH), appears ready to face Trump again next week.
“As we head to New Hampshire, I have one more thing to say, underestimate me because that’s always fun,” Haley said. “I love you Iowa but we’re on to New Hampshire.”