New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, who has endorsed former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley for president, on Sunday declined to say whether she intends to continue her campaign if she doesn’t win the primary in her home state.
In an interview on NBC News’ “Meet the Press,” moderator Kristen Welker asked Sununu, “If Haley can’t win in her home state, can she continue in this race? What’s her path that she can’t win South Carolina?” Sununu replied, “That’s a month away.”
“To be honest, not even looking at that right now. I’m looking at the next 72 hours,” he said. “We’re going like gangbusters. She’s crisscrossing the state. She’s hitting every voter. She’s going everywhere.”
Welker then pressed Sununu again: “If she doesn’t win South Carolina, is she going to need to take a hard look at her campaign and potentially reassess being in this race?”
Sununu dodged the question.
“I think after every state, you look at your campaign, obviously, but that’s a month away. I mean, it’s really a month away,” he said.
During an interview on CBS’ “Face the Nation” on Sunday, Haley said she was confident about her odds in South Carolina.
“I won twice as governor,” she said when asked whether she could win next month’s primary.
Welker also noted during Sununu’s NBC News appearance that Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina recently endorsed former President Donald Trump. Haley appointed Scott, who dropped out of the presidential race in November, to his Senate seat in 2012. Haley, the former U.N. ambassador under Trump, herself noted at a New Hampshire rally Saturday that she was “of course” disappointed by Scott’s decision.
“Tim Scott doesn’t matter,” Sununu said.
While Sununu had predicted Haley would win New Hampshire in a landslide, he has since lowered expectations, saying Sunday that even a strong second-place finish would benefit her campaign.
Sununu said Haley is seeking to “build on momentum” from the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday.
“She’s challenging [Trump] here,” Sununu said. “And now she, again, gets to go to her home state, where she’s won a lot before. She knows how to do it on the ground, and people don’t realize that South Carolina isn’t next week — it’s like three or four weeks away, and Nikki is going to have a lot of time to build on the momentum she’s already created.”