When Nikki Haley campaigned at the Iowa State Fair last summer, she sported a navy T-shirt emblazoned with a bold warning to her Republican opponents.
“Underestimate me—that’ll be fun,” the shirt proclaimed in all caps.
The former South Carolina governor had hoped to send a message that she was prepared to defy expectations and emerge as a formidable contender in the Republican presidential race against former President Donald Trump and other challengers.
But on Wednesday, as her path to the nomination appeared all but impossible, she announced her withdrawal from the 2024 Republican presidential nomination race, ending her long-shot bid to challenge Trump’s hold on the party. “It is now up to Donald Trump to earn the votes of those in our party and beyond it, who did not support him, and I hope he does that,” Haley said in an address from Charleston, S.C. “At its best, politics is about bringing people into your cause, not turning them away. And our conservative cause badly needs more people.”
Questions now linger about Haley’s future in Republican politics. At 52, she represents a traditional strain of Republicanism that advocates for hawkish foreign policy, fiscal discipline, and limited government. But her recent clashes with Trump may hinder her ability to navigate the party’s dynamics moving forward.
“She never had a place,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican who has appeared on the campaign trail with Trump, told TIME after Haley suspended her campaign. “I’m excited for President Trump.”
Read More:‘Never Means Never’: A ‘Never Trump’ Republican on Where the Movement Goes Next
Haley’s departure from the presidential race comes after a string of disappointing results in primary contests, only winning in Vermont and Washington, D.C. Earlier polls had suggested her potential to appeal to key demographics crucial in general elections, such as suburban women and independents. But her campaign ultimately failed to gain…