Announcing that “it’s officially a two-person race” between Haley and former President Donald Trump, the memo paints a cheerful picture of her prospects in the months to come as the pair squares off in state primaries where there is “fertile ground” for her to win. “The political class and the media want to give Donald Trump a coronation. They say the race is over,” the memo reads. “They want to throw up their hands, after only 110,000 people have voted in a caucus in Iowa and say, well, I guess it’s Trump. That isn’t how this works.” Haley’s team cited New York Times/Siena College polling showing that nearly half of Republican voters (49 percent) want a candidate other than Trump on the ballot. The campaign also referred to survey data showing a large number of Americans don’t want to see Trump or Biden in the race, casting Haley as a viable and natural alternative. “Nikki is the last hope to get our party and our country back on track. And we’re going to get the job done,” the memo states. Central to the campaign’s focus is winning over moderate, conservative-leaning independents who have been turned off by Trump. The campaign hopes to capitalize on multiple open primaries, where voters don’t need to be registered with a political party, in order to win enough delegates to solidify Haley as the eventual nominee. “We’ve heard multiple members of the press say New Hampshire is ‘the best it’s going to get’ for Nikki due to Independents and unaffiliated voters being able to vote in the Republican primary. The reality is that the path through Super Tuesday includes more states than not that have this dynamic,” the memo reads. “Independents voting in primaries is nothing new – historically, GOP nominees have relied on Independents as part of their path to victory, including Donald Trump in 2016,” the memo states. “But in 2024, Nikki Haley is the beneficiary of those Independents – in both the Republican primaries and the general election. That’s why Trump’s own pollster shows her beating Biden by 17 points.” South Carolina and Michigan have open primaries, while eleven of the 16 Super Tuesday states have either open or semi-open primaries. “Of the 874 delegates available on Super Tuesday, roughly two thirds are in states with open or semi-open primaries,” said the campaign. “After Super Tuesday, we will have a very good picture of where this race stands. At that point, millions of Americans in 26 states and territories will have voted,” the campaign told supporters, reiterating Haley’s chances of defeating Trump. “Until then, everyone should take a deep breath.”Nikki Haley’s campaign has released a “State of the Race” memo telling supporters that despite her 31-point loss in the Iowa caucus, she remains a strong contender for the Republican presidential nomination.
