Republican presidential hopeful Nikki Haley will be endorsed by New Hampshire’s popular GOP Gov. Chris Sununu at an event in Manchester Tuesday night.
Sununu’s endorsement comes as the former U.N. ambassador and South Carolina governor tries to position herself as the top Trump-alternative in the narrowing 2024 GOP field.
Standing in her way is Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who she’s leapfrogged in New Hampshire but still leads Haley in Iowa polls.
National polling still has DeSantis narrowly ahead of Haley, but the gap is closing.
DeSantis was previously endorsed by Iowa’s popular Gov. Kim Reynolds, with Haley trying to echo that with Sununu’s plug in New Hampshire.
Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley (left) will be endorsed by New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (right) in Manchester Tuesday night as she seeks to become the GOP’s top Trump-alternative in the 2024 primary race
Nikki Haley posted to X Tuesday that it was going to be a ‘great day in New Hampshire with Gov. Chris Sununu’ after the news broke that she was gaining his endorsement
Sununu announced in June that he wouldn’t seek the White House and in July that he wouldn’t run for reelection after serving four terms as the Granite State’s governor.
The moves allowed him to dedicate his time to finding a Trump replacement, as he has argued that the ex-president needs to go.
‘Republicans will lose again,’ he predicted in a June op-ed for The Washington Post.
‘We must not be complacent, and candidates should not get into this race to further a vanity campaign, to sell books or to audition to serve as Donald Trump’s vice president,’ he wrote.
‘Since 2017, the national Republican Party has lost up and down the ballot, in red states and in blue states, and in elections spanning the House, Senate and presidency,’ he continued. ‘That will happen again unless we Republicans undergo a course correction.’
Sununu also memorably called Trump ‘f***ing crazy’ during the annual Gridiron Dinner in Washington in 2022.
The Post was first to report on Sununu’s upcoming Haley endorsement.
New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (left) stands alongside Nikki Haley (right) at a campaign stop in Hooksett late last month. Sununu has been shopping for a Republican candidate to take on Trump in a two-way primary race
Sununu has argued that the GOP field simply needs to narrow in order for Trump to lose.
It’s unclear if he’ll call on the remaining viable candidates – DeSantis, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy – to drop out when he makes his appearance with Haley Tuesday night.
But during a September appearance at the Texas Tribune Festival in Austin, the governor said candidates should get out of the race ‘hopefully before Super Tuesday.’
The Iowa caucuses will be held on January 15 while the New Hampshire primary is January 23. Super Tuesday next year comes on March 5.
‘The candidates need the discipline and responsibility to get out,’ Sununu said. ‘Because one-on-one he loses, there’s no question about that. He will not retain 50 percent of the vote if it’s one-on-one … if seven or eight candidates have the discipline to get out, he’s toast.’
Sununu’s appearance with Haley in Manchester Tuesday night will come around the same time DeSantis is headlining a CNN town hall with Iowa voters.