Former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley said Sunday that she no longer feels bound by the earlier pledge made by her and other presidential hopefuls to support the GOP’s eventual nominee — widely expected to be former president Donald Trump.
The Republican National Committee made that pledge a key condition for candidates who wanted to participate in the party’s debates. Haley acknowledged in an interview on NBC’s “Meet The Press” that the pledge was a requirement but added that the party has changed since then.
“The RNC is now not the same RNC,” she said.
The organization finds itself in tumult as Trump has moved to take control. He suggested his daughter-in-law and two others take over as RNC leaders even before RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel could step down, a decision that she announced last week.
When asked directly if she would endorse Trump if she dropped out, she wouldn’t answer but said she has “serious concerns about Donald Trump. I have even more concerns about Joe Biden.”
Haley, the last Republican candidate still standing against Trump, has been getting trounced by the former president in recent state nomination contests. She’s lost by wide margins in Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada. She was also beaten by Trump by about 20 points in her home state of South Carolina last month.
Haley has pledged to stay in the presidential race at least until Super Tuesday, on March 5, when 16 states hold nominating contests.
Haley, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, had participated in debates along with one-time GOP hopefuls including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. The pledge also said the candidates would forgo any third-party bid of their own.
Notably, Trump, who didn’t participate in the debates, refused to sign any such loyalty pledge.
Haley also said on “Meet The Press” that she worried whether Trump would follow the Constitution if he was elected to a second term.
“You always want to think someone will, but I don’t know,” Haley said. “When you go and you talk about revenge, when you go and you talk about, you know, vindication, what does that mean?”