Former South Carolina governor and former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley has congratulated former President Donald Trump on his projected victory in the New Hampshire primary, although he has avoided calling his own electoral career over.

“New Hampshire is the first (primary) in the nation, but not the last“he said in a speech given shortly after the country’s main networks declared his only rival in that race the winner.

Haley began that speech by acknowledging her defeat: “I want to congratulate Donald Trump on his victory tonight. She has earned it and I recognize it.” With 31% counted in New Hampshire, Trump was 53.5% ahead of Haley (45.5%). “The race is far from over. There are dozens of states left,” said the former ambassador to the UN, whose percentage of defeat on this occasion is lower than anticipated.

In New Hampshire Only 22 delegates are distributed out of the 2,429 who will participate in the Republican National Convention that this summer will nominate the candidate for the White House. For Haley, Trump winning then would benefit both the current president, Democrat Joe Biden, and the vice president, Kamala Harris.

“The Republicans They have lost almost every election to Donald Trump. We lost the Senate. We lost the House of Representatives. We lost the White House. We lost in 2018, in 2020 and in 2022. The worst kept secret in politics is how badly Democrats want to run against Trump. They know that he is the only Republican in the country that Biden can defeat,” he said. The next stop in this process will be Nevada on February 6 and on the 24th of that same month in South Carolina, Haley’s home state, where she hopes gain momentum: “We’re just getting started,” Haley added in her speech.

In the Iowa caucuses on Monday of last week, Trump came first with 51% of the votes, followed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (21.2%), who has already retired. Haley got 19.1% and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, who has also abandoned the fight, 7.7%.