MILWAUKEE, WI – Former President Trump’s final rival in the 2024 GOP presidential nomination race will speak at this week’s Republican convention, in what appears to be a move towards party unity in the wake of the unsuccessful assassination attempt against Trump.
Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who served as U.N. ambassador in the Trump administration, will now speak at the convention, a person familiar with the decision confirmed to Fox News on Sunday.
As of last week, Haley wasn’t planning on attending the convention, which kicks off Monday in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
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The Fiserv Forum stands illuminated at night ahead of the 2024 Republican National Convention on July 12, 2024 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. (PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images)
“She was not invited, and she’s fine with that,” Haley aide Chaney Denton said last week. “Trump deserves the convention he wants. She’s made it clear she’s voting for him and wishes him the best.”
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But following Saturday’s shootings at a Trump rally in western Pennsylvania, where the former president was visibly bloodied after a bullet grazed his ear, and where one spectator was killed and two critically injured, the GOP has rallied around their standard-bearer.
Former President Donald Trump is seen with blood on his face surrounded by Secret Service agents as he is taken off the stage at a campaign event in Butler, Pennsylvania, July 13, 2024. Rebecca Droke/AFP via Getty Images (Rebecca Droke/AFP via Getty Images)
Haley launched her presidential campaign in February of last year, becoming the first major candidate to challenge Trump, who had announced his candidacy three months earlier. She was the final rival to Trump, battling the former president in a contentious two-candidate showdown from the New Hampshire primary in late January through Super Tuesday in early March.
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Haley announced that she was suspending her White House campaign on March 6, the day after Trump swept 14 of 15 GOP nominating contests on Super Tuesday.
Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley speaks as she announces she is suspending her campaign, in Charleston, South Carolina, March 6, 2024. (REUTERS/Brian Snyder)
As she departed the race, Haley made it clear that she intended to keep speaking out. And Haley continued to grab up to 20% of the vote in Republican presidential primaries in the months after she dropped out.
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In late May, in her first public comments since announcing the end of her 2024 campaign, Haley said she would vote for Trump.
Haley won a total of 97 delegates during the Republican presidential primaries. And last week, Haley released all of her delegates and urged them to support Trump.