N.H. Governor Sununu endorses Haley's 2024 Republican US presidential bid

[December 13, 2023]  WASHINGTON (Reuters) -New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu on Tuesday endorsed Nikki Haley for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, potentially giving her a bump in the early primary state but not altering the dynamics of a nominating race dominated by Donald Trump. 

Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley is endorsed by New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu at a campaign town hall in Manchester, New Hampshire, U.S., December 12, 2023. REUTERS/Brian Snyder

Sununu's move follows an endorsement for Haley by the conservative U.S. political network led by billionaire Charles Koch last month, consolidating the former U.N. ambassador and South Carolina governor's support from the Republican establishment.

Sununu, a critic of Trump and a popular governor, had been looking for a candidate to endorse ahead of the state's primaries on Jan. 23.

".@NikkiHaley is the candidate with the momentum to win and get our party back on track to delivering conservative victories across the country," Sununu said on social media site X.

Trump remains dominant in the 2024 Republican presidential nominating contest, drawing the support of more than half of the party's voters, according to a Reuters/Ipsos opinion poll completed on Monday.

The poll found that 61% of self-identified Republicans said they would vote for the former U.S. president in the state-by-state nominating contest to pick a challenger to Democratic President Joe Biden. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Haley were each backed by 11% of self-identified Republicans.

(Reporting by Ismail Shakil and Alexandra Ulmer; Editing by Doina Chiacu, Chizu Nomiyama and Jonathan Oatis)

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