South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley To Endorse Marco Rubio

Marco Rubio’s presidential bid on Wednesday, giving the Florida Republican a significant boost just days from the key Palmetto State presidential primary, The State newspaper reported.

COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is endorsing Marco Rubio ahead of Saturday’s first-in-the-South Republican presidential primary.

Haley’s political persona has always seemed to me much more like Rubio’s than Ted Cruz’s – sunny, disinclined to bomb-throw, self-conscious about being a “next generation Republican”, willing to make common cause with the left even on fraught policy matters (immigration, the Confederate flag debate). But she said Trump represents “everything a governor doesn’t want in a president”.

“I don’t know yet”, Haley said.

That kind of institutional backing should translate into quite a few votes, though polls suggest Rubio is nevertheless likely to lose to Donald Trump on Saturday.

Haley and Rubio, both 44, have plenty of similarities.

Haley has gained national prominence since her response to the Charleston shooting a year ago, and she was selected by Speaker of the House Paul Ryan to deliver the response to President Obama’s State of the Union in January.

Speaking to reporters after a town hall event in Summerville, South Carolina, Bush said he was “disappointed” to not win Haley’s support. And Rubio, who stumbled in New Hampshire after a strong third place in Iowa, hopes to separate himself from the other candidates to convince voters he is best positioned to challenge Cruz and Trump.

Haley’s endorsement was considered the most coveted among SC politicians. Tim Scott of North Charleston, the only African-American Republican in the Senate, and U.S. Rep. Trey Gowdy, the Spartanburg Republican who heads a panel investigating the Benghazi attack.

Rubio first met Haley when they were first running for their current offices.

It began airing in Greenville, South Carolina, on Tuesday evening, according to CMAG/Kantar Media, a company that tracks political advertising.

Bush told NBC News on Tuesday that Haley’s endorsement is “the most powerful meaningful one in the state”.