‘Unite and focus.’ Hawley says Trump will win GOP nomination as Haley hopes to win in NH
Sen. Josh Hawley is calling the Republican presidential primary for former President Donald Trump.
Hawley, a Missouri Republican, said it would be surprising if Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina, beats Trump in New Hampshire on Tuesday evening. And he said even if she does win, Trump will likely win the nomination in the states that follow.
“It’s a fact. It’s gonna happen,” Hawley said. “It’s gonna be Trump-Biden. I know who I’m gonna vote for.”
Hawley has said he believes Trump will be the Republican nominee for more than a year, particularly after several indictments against the former president appeared to galvanize the former president’s support among the Republican base.
“I just say to my fellow Republicans who have their reservations about Trump, I mean, that’s fine,” Hawley said. “But listen, he’s the voters choice and if you want to be Joe Biden, he’s the ticket. So this is the time to put aside your differences and unite and focus.”
And the next step may be the courts. Trump has been indicted four times on 91 criminal charges – not including the Supreme Court case to determine whether Colorado is allowed to remove Trump’s name from the ballot because of a Civil War-era provision intended to prevent people who engaged in an insurrection or rebellion from holding office.
Sen. Eric Schmitt, the junior Republican senator from Missouri, dismissed the idea that the courts could hold much sway in the election.
“I think that’s already baked in, I’ll be honest with you,” Schmitt said. “I think it’s baked in. I think people have formed their opinions about that one way or another, and I just don’t see much of that changing the dynamic in many ways. I think it’s added jet fuel in his campaign, as somebody that’s on the wrong side of a political prosecution.”
Schmitt and Hawley both signed on to an amicus brief to the U.S. Supreme Court supporting Trump’s effort to stay on the ballot. And both have denounced the indictments against Trump, which include charges relating to his efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election and his mishandling of classified documents after leaving office.
While Hawley only endorsed Trump last month, Schmitt endorsed the former president in February 2023. He was among the sitting U.S. senators who endorsed early in the primary, when some Republicans still believed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis might have the momentum to defeat Trump. DeSantis dropped out on Sunday, just days after coming in a distant second place to Trump in Iowa.
“I think President Trump has always been the center of gravity on the Republican side,” Schmitt said. “I endorsed him a year ago. I’m glad that more people are coming on board. I think that provides a level of unity. But I just felt like this was going to be the rematch. I felt like that pretty early on.”
