February 22, 2024 11:46 AM UTC

Nikki Haley Schedules Optimistic Denver Visit For Next Tuesday

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• by: Colorado Pols

As the Denver Post’s Saja Hindi reports, the last remaining Republican primary challenger to a resurgent Donald Trump, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, is headed to Denver next week for what could be a swan song campaign stop:

Haley’s campaign confirmed in an email that she will attend the event, which starts at 1:30 p.m. [Tuesday] at the Wings over the Rockies Exploration of Flight campus at Centennial Airport, 13005 Wings Way, in the south suburbs.

The 52-year-old former South Carolina governor and United Nations ambassador in the Trump administration said this week that she plans to stay in the primary against the former president, even as other major candidates have dropped out and she hasn’t won a primary contest yet.

She will do so, she said, even if she doesn’t win in her home state when South Carolina holds its Republican primary Saturday.

Gov. Haley has kept her game face while losing every contest in the GOP primary so far to Trump, and is expected to heavily lose her home state of South Carolina in that state’s primary election this coming Saturday. If Trump wins South Carolina by the 60%+ margin the polls anticipate, it’s very difficult to see a path forward for Haley other than some kind of implosion on Trump’s part that so far no adversity has been able to produce.

Colorado’s Republican Party, as readers know, has been openly hostile to Haley’s campaign despite accepting tens of thousands of dollars from Haley to appear on the state’s primary ballot, and has formally endorsed Trump while urging Haley to get out of the race. Especially in the wake of a Trump triumph in Haley’s home state, Haley will be looking at a frosty reception from local Republicans. Long gone are the days of 2016 when Colorado Republicans welcomed any alternative to Trump, and though we’ve seen no polling we have no reason to believe Colorado’s Super Tuesday voters will throw Haley a lifeline.

And that’s assuming Haley is even in the race by Super Tuesday. Or even next Tuesday.