Top US Senate Republican endorses Trump after Haley exits race

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - Mitch McConnell, the top Republican in the US Senate, announced Wednesday that he is endorsing former President Donald Trump for the White House, setting aside their long contentious relationship.

The decision to back Trump came after former UN envoy Nikki Haley, Trump's remaining sole national challenger for the Republican nomination, announced her withdrawal from the 2024 presidential race.

"It is abundantly clear that former President Trump has earned the requisite support of Republican voters to be our nominee for President of the United States," McConnell said in a statement cited in multiple reports.

"I look forward to the opportunity of switching from playing defense against the terrible policies the Biden administration has pursued to a sustained offense geared towards making a real difference in improving the lives of the American people," added McConnell.

The announcement came minutes after Haley suspended her campaign for the Republican nomination after facing mounting long odds. But in exiting the race, Haley did not endorse Trump, instead saying that her former boss had to earn the votes of her supporters.

"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. At its best, politics is about bringing people into your cause, not turning them away, and our conservative cause badly needs more people," she said. "This is now his time for choosing."

Haley's announcement was roundly expected after she failed to produce a strong showing on Super Tuesday.

While she was the first woman to win a Republican primary contest, taking the nation's capital and the state of Vermont, Trump has long dominated the field and swept 14 of the 15 states that voted Tuesday.

Trump appeared to dismiss Haley's appeal and instead gloated at her defeat, saying she "got TROUNCED last night, in record setting fashion."