LACONIA, N.H. — As the last major challenger in Donald Trump ‘s way to the Republican nomination, Nikki Haley is hoping New Hampshire voters feel so strongly about keeping the former president away from the White House that they turn out to support her in large numbers.
“America does not do coronations,” Haley said at a VFW hall in Franklin, joined by her daughter and son-in-law. “Let’s show all of the media class and the political class that we’ve got a different plan in mind, and let’s show the country what we can do.”
It’s an uphill battle for the former U.N. ambassador and South Carolina governor. Most conservatives want to give Trump another chance at beating President Joe Biden despite Trump’s 2020 election loss and the 91 felony charges he faces in four separate indictments.
With voting about to begin in New Hampshire, almost every top Republican has lined up behind Trump. Polls in New Hampshire suggest he leads Haley in a state uniquely suited to her strengths, though his lead is narrower than the 30-point blowout he scored in the Iowa caucuses.
Haley told reporters on Monday that she is expecting a stronger outcome than Iowa.
“This is a building game for us. This has always been that,” she said. “We feel very good about it.”
Trump held what he said would be his last rally before the election Monday night. He started the day in New York for his defamation trial after an earlier jury determined he had sexually abused a columnist in the 1990s, but the session was canceled due to a juror’s illness.
Trump was joined onstage Monday night by three of his former opponents who have now endorsed him: South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum. The show of force — interrupted several times by climate change protesters, who were shouted down and removed — is part of a broader effort by Trump’s team to lock up the primary and demonstrate the party is rallying around him.
“Every day the Republican Party is becoming more and more unified,” Trump told several hundred people in a steamy, packed hotel ballroom just hours before the first votes were to be cast. “Now is the time for the Republican Party to come together. We have to unify.”
He alluded to former Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ departure from the race on Sunday but didn’t name him.
“And I think one person will be gone, probably tomorrow,” he said, alluding to Haley.
Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Florida Rep. Byron Donalds and Arizona Senate candidate Kari Lake also spoke before Trump took the stage.
On paper, Trump had seemed more vulnerable in New Hampshire than in any other early voting state on the primary calendar. Though voters here supported him by a wide margin in 2016, the state has long been known for its moderate tradition, including allowing unaffiliated voters to participate in GOP primaries. And Haley had been on the rise, prompting Trump’s campaign and its allies to spend millions trying to blunt her momentum.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis suspending his bid turned the state into the one-on-one contest between Trump and Haley that she and a long line of anti-Trump Republicans had said they wanted.
But some evidence suggests Trump could be better positioned to capitalize on DeSantis’ exit than Haley. According to AP VoteCast, DeSantis supporters in Iowa overwhelmingly described themselves as conservative and Trump outperformed Haley 53% to 13% among that group.