Haley congratulates Trump, calls on Harris to concede

Former GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley is congratulating President-elect Trump on his victory in the 2024 election and calling on Vice President Harris to concede.

“The American people have spoken,” Haley wrote Wednesday morning on social platform X. “Congratulations to President Trump on a strong win. Now, it’s time for the American people to come together, pray for our country, and start the process of a peaceful transition.”

“That begins with Kamala Harris conceding. You can’t just talk about unity in a campaign, you have to show it regardless of the outcome,” the former South Carolina governor continued.

Former presidential candidate and U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley speaks at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on July 16, 2024. (Credit: Greg Nash)

Haley was the last candidate standing against Trump in the GOP primary, which became increasing contentious as the candidates exchanged personal jabs and Haley long refused to bow out of the race.

She waited months to endorse the former president’s White House bid after ending her own earlier this year. And even when she did throw her support behind Trump, Haley never walked back her criticism of the former president.

Most recently, however, she made the case in a Wall Street Journal op-ed for the former president by arguing Trump is “clearly the better choice” in the general election against Harris.

“No politician gets everything right,” Haley wrote in the op-ed published Sunday ahead of the election. “For those of us clear-eyed enough to see Mr. Trump’s flaws and honest enough to acknowledge them, the question is whether we’re better off with his policies or his opponent’s. On taxes, spending, inflation, immigration, energy and national security, the candidates are miles apart.”

Decision Desk HQ projected Trump will return to the White House, after defeating the vice president Tuesday night. Harris, noticeably silent so far, is set to speak Wednesday afternoon at Howard University.

The Hill has reached out to the Harris campaign for a response.