Haley Releases Delegates, Urges Them To Back Trump Ahead Of RNC Convention

Authored by Jackson Richman via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

Former GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley announced on July 9 that she is releasing her 97 delegates and urging them to support former President Donald Trump.

(Left) Former President Donald Trump arrives to speak during a Super Tuesday election night watch party at Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Fla., on March 5, 2024. (Right) Republican presidential hopeful Nikki Haley speaks during a campaign rally in Portland, Maine, on March 3, 2024. (Chandan Khanna, Joseph Prezioso/AFP via Getty Images)

The move comes days before the Republican National Convention when the 45th president is set to be nominated as the party’s 2024 presidential candidate.

In a statement, Ms. Haley called for the GOP to come together as President Joe Biden is incompetent to have four more years in the Oval Office and Vice President Kamala Harris “would be a disaster for America.”

“The nominating convention is a time for Republican unity,” said Ms. Haley in a statement.

“We need a president who will hold our enemies to account, secure our border, cut our debt, and get our economy back on track,” said the former South Carolina governor and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.

Ms. Haley went on to call on her delegates to back former President Trump at the Republican National Convention, which will be held July 15–18 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Politico first reported the news.

The former candidate will not be attending the convention.

“She was not invited, and she’s fine with that,” Ms. Haley’s spokesperson, Chaney Denton, told The Epoch Times.

“Trump deserves the convention he wants,” Ms. Denton said. “She’s made it clear she’s voting for him and wishes him the best.”

In May, a few months after suspending her presidential campaign, Ms. Haley announced she will be voting for former President Trump.

She said that she wants a “president who would support capitalism and freedom. A president who understands we need less debt, not more debt.” While former President Trump “has not been perfect on these policies,” she said, he is preferable to President Joe Biden.

The following day, former President Trump suggested Ms. Haley would be on his team “in some form” and did not rule her out as a running mate despite having done so before her announcement that she will cast her ballot for her former boss.

In the primary, Ms. Haley won just Vermont and the District of Columbia with nine and 19 delegates, respectively.

In other primaries, which former President Trump won, Ms. Haley picked up eight delegates in Iowa; nine in New Hampshire; three in her home state of South Carolina; four in Michigan; 12 each in Colorado, North Carolina, and Minnesota; six in Virginia; one in Arkansas and two in Rhode Island.