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Donald Trump's last Republican rival Nikki Haley pulls out of ...

Donald Trumps last Republican rival Nikki Haley pulls out of
It means Donald Trump is heading for what is almost certainly going to be a November showdown with the man who beat him in the 2020 election: Democrat Joe Biden.

Donald Trump is set to be the Republican candidate for president as his last remaining rival Nikki Haley pulled out of the race.

"The time has now come to suspend my campaign," Ms Haley said. "I have no regrets."

She said it was likely Mr Trump would be the Republican nominee but did not endorse him.

She said: "It is now up to Donald Trump to earn the votes of those in our party and beyond it. And I hope he does that."

It means Mr Trump is heading for what is almost certainly going to be a November showdown with the man who beat him in the 2020 election: Democrat Joe Biden.

In a statment this afternoon after she dropped out, Mr Biden said the 52-year-old was "willing to speak the truth about Trump".

"It takes a lot of courage to run for President - that's especially true in today's Republican Party, where so few dare to speak the truth about Donald Trump.

"Nikki Haley was willing to speak the truth about Trump: about the chaos that always follows him, about his inability to see right from wrong, about his cowering before Vladimir Putin."

He added: "Donald Trump made it clear he doesn't want Nikki Haley's supporters. I want to be clear: There is a place for them in my campaign."

Ms Haley, a former South Carolina governor, had pitched herself as a solid conservative and a younger alternative to Mr Trump, who is 77.

Follow latest: Haley challenges Trump to win over her supporters

Donald Trump speaks at a Super Tuesday election night party
Image: Donald Trump at a Super Tuesday election night party. Pic: AP

She had been seen as the choice for Republicans tired of Trump's ongoing legal issues - he faces four criminal cases, including over allegations over efforts to reverse the 2020 election result and his handling of national security documents.

She also drew support from deep-pocketed donors intent on stopping Mr Trump from winning a third consecutive Republican presidential nomination, particularly after she notched a series of strong performances at debates that Mr Trump opted to skip.

While Ms Haley lasted longer than any other Republican challenger, she never posed a serious threat to the former president, whose iron grip on the party's base remains firm.

She failed to reach Republican voters, losing almost all the Republican nominating contests and securing just one of the primaries on Super Tuesday.

Will Nikki Haley's followers now find a home in Trump's Republican Party?

It wasn't everything Donald Trump wanted to hear.

Sure, Nikki Haley has cleared his path towards another run at the White House, but he could have used her endorsement.

There was, emphatically, none.

After a contest that exposed the fractures in the Republican Party, she spoke of turning away from the darkness of hatred and division - her subtext for the political alternative she had run against.

The message will resonate with the section of the Republican movement she had carried with her. The question for Mr Trump is whether or not he can reel in those voters who have resisted him.

Ms Haley found the MAGA base impenetrable as Mr Trump strengthened his grip on the Republican Party, but she did win votes consistently across the contest.

She invoked Margaret Thatcher in stepping down when she said: "Never follow the crowd, always make up your own mind."

On that basis, her followers will ponder whether they now find a natural home in a party reshaped according to Mr Trump or has its politics left them behind?

On that question, November's presidential election will turn.

Mr Trump and Mr Biden each won California, Texas, Alabama, Colorado, Maine, Oklahoma, Virginia, North Carolina, Tennessee, Arkansas, Minnesota and Massachusetts.

Mr Biden also won the Democratic primaries in Utah, Vermont and Iowa. The only contest the 81-year-old lost on Tuesday was the Democratic caucus in American Samoa, a tiny US territory in the South Pacific Ocean.

Read more: We're on course for the oldest presidential race in US history - and one most people don't want

Joe Biden speaks at a campaign stop in Michigan in February. Pic: AP
Image: Joe Biden at a campaign stop in Michigan in February. Pic: AP

Ms Haley's only win of the night came in Vermont - denying Mr Trump a full sweep.

But the former president carried other states that might have been favourable to her such as Virginia, Massachusetts and Maine - which have large swathes of moderate voters like those who have backed her in previous primaries - and forced his last remaining challenger out of the race.

He declared the GOP was united behind him.

Ms Haley was ambassador to the United Nations for almost two years under Mr Trump's presidency and when she resigned, he called her a "very special" person.

In recent months on the campaign trail, however, he changed his tune.

He used her background as a daughter of Indian immigrants as ammunition for racially-charged attacks, and he amplified false claims about her eligibility for the White House, despite her having been born in South Carolina.

She fought back, describing him as "unhinged", saying he is too chaotic and divisive to be an effective president, and criticising his admiration for dictators such as Russian President Vladimir Putin.

Read more from Sky News:Haley becomes first woman to win a Republican primaryHow Trump's grip on the Republican Party is tightening

Her departure, after enduring a long string of losses, including her home state, clears Mr Trump to focus solely on his likely rematch in November with Mr Biden - the first repeat US presidential contest since 1956.

They and their politics will dominate the next eight months, having dominated the last eight years.

However, it is a rematch few Americans want.

Opinion polls show both Mr Biden and Mr Trump have low approval ratings among voters.

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