Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina who represented the last, best hope for a faction of Republicans hoping to move the party beyond Donald Trump, announced today that she was ending her presidential campaign after a string of resounding primary losses.

She pointedly declined to endorse Trump, instead challenging him to win over her supporters. Haley’s departure makes the contest many Americans had hoped to avoid — a rematch between Trump and President Biden — an inescapable reality.

Haley had spent the past several months inching up in polls and attacking Trump as an aging, mentally unsound agent of chaos. But her failure to truly threaten his campaign underscored how out of touch she was with today’s Republican Party.

Nevertheless, Haley’s modest chunk of support — a group that leans moderate and is college educated — could help decide the race in November. My colleagues talked with nearly 40 Haley supporters to see what they’re thinking.

In related news, three years after delivering a scorching denouncement of Trump after the Jan. 6 riot, Senator Mitch McConnell endorsed him for president.