The Republican National Committee (RNC) named former President Donald Trump the presumptive GOP nominee for president on Wednesday.
The RNC put out a statement calling Trump the winner of the primary shortly after former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley suspended her presidential campaign on Wednesday morning. Haley bowed out after a string of Super Tuesday losses that saw Trump make big gains in the delegate count ahead of the Republican convention.
“Congratulations to President Donald J. Trump on his huge primary victory! I’d also like to congratulate Nikki Haley for running a hard-fought campaign and becoming the first woman to win a Republican presidential primary contest,” RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said in a statement.
“President Trump once delivered a booming economy, secure border, energy independence, and America’s strength on the world stage, the exact opposite of the chaos created by Joe Biden,” she added. “Republican voters have spoken loud and clear with historically large margins and we are more united than ever to beat Biden and Democrats up and down the ballot in November.”
McDaniel has headed the RNC since 2017 and enjoyed support from Trump in that position until recently. Under pressure from the former president, the chairwoman announced last week that she plans to step down this month. She is expected to leave her post on Friday, March 8.
McDaniel elicited anger from other members of her party when, in January, she urged Republicans to “unite” around Trump while other contenders were still vying for the GOP nomination.
Trump’s sweep of Super Tuesday states broke in Vermont, where Haley won the contest by roughly 4 points. It was Haley’s second primary victory of the cycle after she won in Washington, D.C., over the weekend.
Haley declined to speak after her lone Super Tuesday victory. Instead, her campaign released a statement touting Haley’s victory as a woman and warning of a “large block of Republican primary voters who are expressing deep concerns about Donald Trump.” Haley appeared on Wednesday morning to officially suspend her campaign. She did not endorse Trump.
Trump put out a statement on his social media platform, Truth Social, claiming victory over Haley on Super Tuesday and inviting her supporters to back him.
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“Nikki Haley got TROUNCED last night, in record setting fashion, despite the fact that Democrats, for reasons unknown, are allowed to vote in Vermont, and various other Republican Primaries,” Trump said.
“I’d like to thank my family, friends, and the Great Republican Party for helping me to produce, by far, the most successful Super Tuesday in HISTORY, and would further like to invite all of the Haley supporters to join the greatest movement in the history of our Nation. BIDEN IS THE ENEMY, HE IS DESTROYING OUR COUNTRY. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!” he wrote.