Haley rules out running as an independent or with No Labels

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley ruled out the idea of running either as an independent or under a No Labels ticket during a Tuesday interview. 

Haley was asked on Fox News if she would forgo running under No Labels if she didn’t get the GOP presidential nomination and if she would support the eventual Republican nominee, which appears increasingly likely to be former President Trump. 

“I am a conservative Republican. I have been all my life, and you know the problem is right now everybody’s saying if you don’t support Donald Trump, you’re a Democrat. That’s terrible, and that’s not unifying, and that’s not going to get anyone to win a general election,” Haley said. 

“What I will tell you is I’m a conservative Republican. I have said many, many times, I would not run as an independent. I would not run as No Labels because I am a Republican, and that’s who I’ve always been,” she continued. “That’s what I’m going to do. And so that’s my focus. What we wanted was to give people a voice. We’re going to have that today.” 

“Sixteen states and territories are going to vote. God bless America that we get to do that. And then we’re going to take it from there,” she finished.  

Super Tuesday represents Haley’s last chance to dig into Trump’s momentum in the GOP primary. The former U.N. ambassador has won only the Washington, D.C., early nominating contest, which featured both Republicans’ names. 

Haley has faced growing questions about her path forward, including whether she might mount an independent or third-party bid. No Labels national director Joe Cunningham said on Fox News last month that “Nikki Haley is somebody we’d definitely be interested in.” 

Haley has previously suggested she would not be interested in running under No Labels, which has pushed for a bipartisan “unity” ticket including one Republican and one Democrat. The former U.N. ambassador told reporters recently, “If I were to do No Labels, that would require a Democrat. I can’t do what I wanted to express with the Democrat.”

At the same time, Haley demurred to Fox News’s Ainsley Earhardt on Tuesday when she was asked if she would unify around Trump if he won Super Tuesday. 

“I mean, Ainsley, if I were to get out of the race, it would still be the longest presidential general election in history,” she said. “I don’t know why everybody is so adamant that they have to follow Trump’s lead to get me out of this race. You know, all of these people deserve to vote. Sixteen states want to have their voices heard. Let’s let their voices get heard.”