Republican candidate Nikki Haley, former ambassador to the United Nations and former governor of South Carolina, just received a significant endorsement heading into the GOP primary elections.
Chris Sununu, governor of New Hampshire, gave his support to Haley to be the GOP candidate for the 2024 elections.
"Let's not miss this opportunity. The entire country is watching," Sununu said this Tuesday in a meeting with Haley, where he formally announced his support.
"There was a sweet older woman who has come to a lot of events and I saw her coming in here and she said, 'So are you going to finally endorse Nikki Haley for president?' You bet your ass I am. We're all in for Nikki Haley," said the governor of New Hampshire.
Sununu is a very important politician at the state level. He has been elected and re-elected to four two-year terms and is one of the most popular governors in the United States, even though three years ago, he became a fierce critic of former President Donald Trump.
The media describes Sununu as a politician capable of influencing the moderate Republican vote and independents.
For this reason, three of the leading candidates for the Republican elections, Ron DeSantis, governor of Florida; Chris Christie, the most anti-Trump candidate in the Republican primaries; and Haley herself, were seeking his support to try to compete against former President Trump, who maintains a wide margin in New Hampshire, although still below 50%.
Although Trump leads all candidates by more than 25 points in most polls, almost none of the national polls position the former president with more than 50% of the votes in New Hampshire, a key state for winning the Republican primaries.
In almost all the polls, Trump exceeds 40%, and Haley, DeSantis, Christie and Ramaswamy account for practically the rest of the votes, although each one runs on their own, which is an advantage for Trump.
In that sense, Haley has gained momentum in recent months despite her unpopular participation in the Republican debates.
The former governor of South Carolina won vital financial support, like that of the Koch brothers, and now he was in charge of getting the support of the main face of local politics in New Hampshire who, until weeks ago, was still campaigning with Christie, DeSantis and Haley alike and weighed his decision of who to ultimately support.
Sununu's support for Haley, in short, is a hard blow for the DeSantis campaign, which four days ago had finally obtained the support of Governor Kim Reynolds of Iowa, another key state for the GOP primary elections.
DeSantis, if he secured Sununu's support, could argue that he was still in the race to contest the most undecided states and change the course of the primaries. However, with polls placing Haley in second place and with the right endorsements, that rhetorical effort looks increasingly unrealistic.
However, according to Fox News, the DeSantis campaign does not seem to be giving up and plans to return to New Hampshire on Friday after spending a lot of time in Iowa.
"What happens in New Hampshire will be significantly impacted by the outcome in Iowa, where the true Trump alternative will emerge. And when Ron DeSantis comes out in that position, he will be joined by over 60 New Hampshire state legislators who stand ready to take the fight to the establishment and their candidates of yesteryear to return power to grassroots conservatives," DeSantis campaign spokesman Andrew Romeo argued in a statement.
Likewise, another candidate who felt Sununu's blow was candidate Christie, who saw how his campaign failed even to get the support of the governor of New Hampshire, who is not only a "Never Trumper" like him but also an old friend of his.
