US Senator Tim Scott endorses ex-rival Trump in blow to Haley
By Gram Slattery
CONCORD, New Hampshire (Reuters) -U.S. Senator Tim Scott, who had campaigned against Donald Trump for the Republican presidential nomination, endorsed his former rival at a rally in New Hampshire on Friday night, dealing a blow to Trump's top remaining primary competitor, Nikki Haley.
The move by Scott comes just four days before the pivotal Republican nominating contest in New Hampshire, in which Trump is facing off against Haley, a former South Carolina governor who first appointed Scott to the U.S. Senate.
Only Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who has largely written off New Hampshire to challenge Haley in her home state of South Carolina, remains in the three-way contest for the nomination.
Haley is trailing Trump by 14 points in New Hampshire, according to an average of polls maintained by polling analysis website 538. She is feverishly trying to close the gap, as the state is widely seen as one of her best shots to score a win off the former president and keep her campaign hopes alive.
Speaking before hundreds of cheering supporters in Concord, many of whom waited several hours outside in 15 degree Fahrenheit temperatures, Scott listed several reasons why he said the country needed another Trump term, arguing he would lower taxes and unite the country.
«That's why I came to the very warm state of New Hampshire to endorse the next president of these United States, Donald Trump,» Scott shouted.
Scott, the lone Black Republican in the Senate, is the latest conservative U.S. lawmaker to endorse Trump, who won Iowa's caucus on Monday by a historic margin.
After Scott spoke, Trump briefly acknowledged his endorsement, before bashing Haley and Democratic President Joe Biden, who he is likely to face in a
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