New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu on Tuesday endorsed former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, potentially giving Haley a boost in a state where she hopes a strong performance will further winnow the field.
Sununu told reporters after he endorsed Haley at her town hall that the GOP primary is a two-person race between Haley and Trump.
“There’s going to be no choice but for those other candidates to say, hey, we ran a good race…but we’re all gonna get behind Nikki Haley now,” Sununu said, per NBC’s Nnamdi Egwuonwu, Greg Hyatt and Emma Barnett.
While the two early state governors have not backed former President Donald Trump (Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds has endorsed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis), Trump has been dominating the rest of the field in terms of endorsements from members of Congress and statewide elected officials.
On Tuesday Missouri GOP Sen. Josh Hawley, who is up for re-election next year, also joined the list of senators endorsing Trump, per Politico. The former president had recently issued a cryptic warning to Hawley and GOP Sen. Ted Cruz, saying they should be careful in their re-election races.
In other campaign news …
Legal questions: The Associated Press reports that some members of DeSantis’ team have been concerned that the campaign and the pro-DeSantis outside groups “are blurring the lines of what’s legally permissible.” The AP details one instance where DeSantis and his wife’s concerns about Never Back Down’s messaging were related to the group’s leaders.
Taking on Trump: DeSantis ramped up his criticism of Trump during a CNN town hall Tuesday night, criticizing Trump’s stances on abortion and his approaches to the Covid pandemic and a wall at the southern border.
GOP candidates on abortion: None of the GOP presidential contenders “were willing to say outright say they disagreed with Texas’ decision to deny Kate Cox an abortion,” write NBC’s Emma Barnett, Nnamdi Egwuonwu and Greg Hyatt, who detailed responses from Haley, DeSantis, Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy.
Speaking of the Texas case: Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz, who is up for re-election next year, refused on Tuesday to comment on the case, referring questions to his press office, which did not respond, per NBC’s Kate Santaliz and Frank Thorp V. One of Cruz’s Democratic opponents, Rep. Colin Allred, said in a statement, “After fighting for years to enact our state’s extreme abortion ban, Ted Cruz refuses to take any accountability for the tragic situations he has put Texas women in.”
Seeking advice: Biden’s aides met Tuesday with prominent Black male Democrats, per the New York Times, as they worry that the president’s standing among Black men is slipping ahead of 2024.
Checking in with Phillips: On the campaign trail, Rep. Dean Phillips, D-Minn., has increasingly attacked Biden and moved to the left on a number of issues, CNN reports. Meanwhile, crypto investor and former Biden donor Mike Novogratz is hosting a fundraiser for Phillips this weekend, per CNBC’s Brian Schwartz.
A significant boost: Philanthropist and billionaire MacKenzie Scott donated $6 million to Voto Latino, a group that aims to educate and empower Latino voters, per NBC’s Megan Lebowitz.
