Nikki Haley to thank donors, but Trump’s last GOP rival not expected to endorse former president

Two months after ending her White House bid, Nikki Haley will huddle early next week with some of the top donors to her Republican presidential campaign, sources confirmed to Fox News. 

The former two-term South Carolina governor who later served as U.N. ambassador in former President Trump’s administration will use the two-day gathering Monday and Tuesday in Charleston, South Carolina, to thank her major contributors.

But a source in Haley’s orbit says the former presidential candidate isn’t expected to encourage donors to contribute to Trump’s general election campaign and that no endorsement of the presumptive GOP presidential nominee is pending.

The news was first reported Thursday by the Wall Street Journal.

Haley launched her presidential campaign in February 2023, becoming the first major candidate to challenge Trump, who had announced his candidacy three months earlier. And she was the final rival to Trump, battling the former president in a two-candidate showdown from the New Hampshire primary in late January through Super Tuesday in early March.

Haley announced she was suspending her White House campaign March 6, the day after Trump swept 14 of 15 GOP nominating contests on Super Tuesday.

However, Haley made it clear when she exited the Republican presidential nomination race she intends to keep speaking out.

‘While I will no longer be a candidate, I will not stop using my voice for the things I believe in,’ she emphasized as she spoke at her presidential campaign headquarters on Daniel Island in her hometown of Charleston.

To date, Haley has declined to endorse Trump.

‘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 March, as she pointed to those who supported her during her White House run.

Haley has not spoken with Trump since exiting the race, the source in her orbit confirmed to Fox News.

Some top members of Haley’s campaign, including some from the fundraising team, are expected to attend next week’s gathering. Haley and groups aligned with her campaign hauled in over $160 million from nearly 300,000 donors. 

In a sign of potential trouble for Trump in his general election rematch with President Biden later this year, Haley continues to grab votes in the Republican primaries even though she’s long gone from the presidential nomination race.

Haley won nearly 22% of the vote in Tuesday’s GOP presidential primary in Indiana, which was open to not only Republicans but also independents and Democrats.

Last month, Haley joined the Washington, D.C.-based Hudson Institute, a research organization focused on foreign and domestic policy, national security, economics and international relations.

‘Nikki is a proven, effective leader on both foreign and domestic policy,’ Hudson President and CEO John P. Walters said in an announcement. ‘In an era of worldwide political upheaval, she has remained a steadfast defender of freedom and an effective advocate for American security and prosperity. We are honored to have her join the Hudson team.’

During her White House bid, Haley advocated a muscular U.S. foreign policy to deal with global hot spots such as the war between Russia and Ukraine and the fighting between Israel and Hamas, often offering a stark contrast with Trump’s America First agenda of keeping the nation out of international entanglements.

Haley traded fire over America’s overseas role with rival Vivek Ramaswamy, an advocate of Trump’s America First philosophy, during the GOP presidential primary debates.