NEW YORK (NEWSnet/AP) — Nikki Haley officially suspended her presidential campaign on Wednesday, in the aftermath of Super Tuesday's primary and caucus results.

Haley didn’t endorse the front-runner, former president Donald Trump in a speech in Charleston, South Carolina. Instead, she encouraged him to earn the support of the coalition of moderate Republicans and independent voters who supported her.

She gave the announcement Wednesday morning in South Carolina, in the aftermath of the Super Tuesday primary schedule. She had promised to stay in the race until at least that point.

“It is now up to Donald Trump to earn the votes of those in our party and beyond it who did not support him. And I hope he does that,” she said. “At its best, politics is about bringing people into your cause, not turning them away. And our conservative cause badly needs more people.”

She had won the primary contests in District of Columbia and Vermont; but Trump became the front-runner early and that momentum continues.

Haley, a former South Carolina governor and U.N. ambassador, was Trump’s first significant rival when she jumped into the race in February 2023. During her campaign, she warned the GOP against embracing Trump, whom she argued was too consumed by chaos and personal grievance to defeat President Joe Biden in the general election.

She has made clear she doesn’t want to serve as Trump’s vice president or run on a third-party ticket arranged by the group No Labels. But she leaves the race with an elevated national profile that could help her in a future presidential run.

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