Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), a one-time rival to former President Donald Trump, is planning to endorse him at an event in Concord, New Hampshire, on Jan. 19.
On Friday, an official at Mr. Scott’s office in Washington confirmed that the report initially published by the New York Times is accurate. President Trump is set to appear at an event in the Granite State’s capitol at 7:30 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.
The news will likely be a blow to the candidacy of former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley. Ms. Haley, also the former U.S. Ambassador to the U.N., was reportedly seeking an endorsement from Mr. Scott.
Ms. Haley, when she was governor of the Palmetto State, appointed Mr. Scott to his seat in the Senate in 2013 to fill a vacancy. Mr. Scott replaced former South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint.
Representatives of the Haley campaign were not immediately available for comment.
At a campaign stop in Amherst, New Hampshire, Ms. Haley was asked about the breaking report and replied, “We’ll wait and see if it happens.”
Mr. Scott once ran alongside Ms. Haley as a candidate for the 2024 Republican Party’s presidential nomination. Mr. Scott withdrew from the race in November 2023.
Ms. Haley is one of two major candidates left in the race against President Trump. She and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis both finished well behind the 45th president at the Republican Party of Iowa’s Caucus on Jan. 15.
According to the Republican Party of Iowa’s official results, President Trump won 51 percent of the vote, Mr. DeSantis placed second with 21.2 percent, and Ms. Haley finished third with 19.1 percent.
New Hampshire Polling
Ms. Haley is currently in New Hampshire, where she is campaigning with Gov. Chris Sununu, a Republican. On Jan. 15, in West Des Moines, Iowa, she declared the GOP’s primary contest was now a two-person race between herself and President Trump.
According to the latest major poll out on New Hampshire, published by the Boston Globe and conducted by Suffolk University, President Trump holds a commanding lead over Ms. Haley.
Of the 500 likely voters contacted between Jan. 17 and Jan. 18 by Suffolk University’s pollsters, 51.8 percent said they would be voting for President Trump. Following, 35.4 percent said they prefer Ms. Haley. Another 6.4 percent said they would support Mr. DeSantis. The smallest percentage, 4.2 percent, remains undecided.
In another poll published by Marist College, which compared the preferences of 1,299 New Hampshirites between Jan. 15 and Jan. 17, respondents preferred Ms. Haley over President Joe Biden in a direct matchup.
In a hypothetical contest, the respondents to the Marist poll backed President Biden over President Trump by a margin of 52 percent to 45 percent in a rematch of the 2020 election. The same experiment was conducted with Ms. Haley, who won 47 percent to 44 percent, and with Mr. DeSantis, who lost 51 percent to 42 percent.
Since her speech in Iowa, Ms. Haley is stepping up attacks of both President Trump and President Biden. She calls them too old and says President Trump tells “too many lies.”
New Hampshire will hold its presidential primary on Jan. 23. The GOP’s South Carolina primary is set for Feb. 24.
Jackson Richman contributed to this report.
From The Epoch Times
