新罕布什尔州州长克里斯·苏努努支持妮基·黑利在2024年共和党初选中周二晚上，在一个关键的提前投票州，哈利和其他几个人只剩下几周时间来试图抓住领先的唐纳德·特朗普。
苏努努在新罕布什尔州曼彻斯特向只有站立空间的人群宣布了这一消息，少数满怀希望的与会者聚集在室外零下的温度下的温暖帐篷中。
“我们去拿这个东西。我们都支持妮基·黑利，”他说，当他进入活动时，一位年长的女性和定期参加活动的Haley问他是否支持他。
“看到她在那里，看到她与人们联系，感受那种动力——它是真实的，是有形的，”苏努努说哈利。“现在，有很多工作要做。”
正如他提到的，海利面临着真正的投票挑战。
根据538的平均值她目前在新罕布什尔州的支持率接近19%;特朗普在45%左右。
苏努努的支持可能有助于在该州1月23日的初选前缩小差距。苏努努是特朗普的直言不讳的批评者，也是该州以独立选民为荣的受欢迎人物。
“我们必须能够向前迈进，”他在周二晚上说，呼应了哈利的观点，即需要新的领导人，而不是特朗普。
在与苏努努热烈拥抱后，哈利对人群开玩笑说:“我想整个曼彻斯特都在这里了。问题是:他们是冲着你来的还是冲着我来的?”
2023年12月12日，新罕布什尔州州长克里斯·苏努努在新罕布什尔州曼彻斯特的一个竞选市政厅支持共和党总统候选人和前驻联合国大使妮基·黑利。
布莱恩·斯奈德/路透社
她接着称苏努努的支持是“我们所能得到的最坚定的支持”一些选民说这也可能动摇他们。
“我对苏努努很有信心，”来自新罕布什尔州梅里马克的尚未拿定主意的选民克里斯蒂·卡尔森说。“所以不管他背后支持谁，对我来说都很重要。那可就大了。”
来自新罕布什尔州沃尔夫伯勒的琳达·韦伯同意这一观点:“我非常尊敬这位州长，我对此充满希望。”她说，她还希望苏努努和某人一起出现在2024年的门票上。
早在6月，苏努努选择不在白宫竞选中抛出自己的帽子，因为他觉得拥挤的领域有助于特朗普。从那时起，各种共和党候选人基本上是和苏努努一起试镜过去几周，他将候选人名单缩小到三位州长:哈利、佛罗里达州州长罗恩·德桑蒂斯和前新泽西州州长克里斯·克里斯蒂。
“如果我决定支持一位候选人，我就会支持他。不是背书。这真的是这个国家正在寻找的一场运动。他们正在寻找一种信息运动，”苏努努在11月的一次哈雷活动上说。
前南卡罗来纳州州长、特朗普政府驻联合国大使黑利最近几个月的民调数字稳步上升。根据538.
尽管如此，她和其他候选人，如德桑蒂斯，在全国和各州都以两位数的差距落后于特朗普，尽管特朗普有法律纠纷。(他否认所有不当行为。)
海莉最近也赢得支持这是一个由亿万富翁查尔斯·科氏支持的强大的政治倡导组织。
对德桑蒂斯来说，已经得到了州长的认可另一个提前投票的州，爱荷华州的金·雷诺兹;川普获得了包括众议院议长迈克·约翰逊在内的一系列支持。
克里斯蒂的发言人周二晚些时候拒绝了苏努努的预期支持，此前克里斯蒂数月来一直寻求苏努努的支持——跳过爱荷华州，重点关注新罕布什尔州。“这让我们在新罕布什尔州落后一票，”这位发言人说。
德桑蒂斯的发言人在他们自己的声明中说，爱荷华州的结果，而不是新罕布什尔州的结果，将是“真正的特朗普替代方案出现的地方。”
New Hampshire Gov. Sununu endorses Haley as she hopes to catch up to Trump
New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu endorsed Nikki Haleyin the 2024 Republican primaryon Tuesday night -- a shake-up in a key early voting state where Haley and a few others have only weeks left to try and catch front-runner Donald Trump.
Sununu made the announcement in Manchester, New Hampshire, to a standing-room-only crowd with a handful of hopeful attendees gathered in heated tents outside in below-freezing temperatures.
"Let's get this thing. We are all in on Nikki Haley," he yelled after saying he'd been asked about his support by an older woman and regular Haley attendee when entering the event.
"To see her out there, to see her connecting with folks, to feel that momentum -- it is real and it is tangible," Sununu said of Haley. "Now, there's a lot of work to do."
As he alluded to, Haley faces real polling challenges.
According to538's average, she is currently at nearly 19% support in New Hampshire; Trump is at about 45%.
An endorsement from Sununu, a vocal Trump critic and popular figure in the state that prides itself on independent-minded voters, could help close that gap ahead of the state's Jan. 23 primary.
"We gotta be able to move forward," he said on Tuesday night, echoing Haley's argument that new leaders -- not Trump -- are needed.
After exchanging a warm embrace with Sununu, Haley joked to the crowd, "I think all Manchester is here. The question is: Did they come for you or they come for me?"
She went on to call Sununu's support "about as rock solid of an endorsement as we could get." Some voters say it may sway them, too.
"I have a lot of faith in Sununu," said Christy Carlson, an undecided voter from Merrimack, New Hampshire. "So whoever he does get behind that endorsement means a lot to me. That'll be big."
Linda Webb from Wolfeboro, New Hampshire, agreed: "I have an enormous amount of respect for the governor, and I am hopeful." She said that she also hopes Sununu appears on the 2024 ticket somewhere with someone.
Back in June, Sununu opted out of throwing his own hat in the race for a White House bid because he felt a crowded field helped Trump. Since then, various Republican hopefulshave essentially been auditioning with Sununufor his endorsement and he narrowed his list down to three governors in the past few weeks: Haley, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.
"If I make a decision to get behind a candidate, I'm gonna get behind a candidate. It's not an endorsement. It's really a movement that this country is looking for. They're looking for a message movement," Sununu said at a Haley event in November.
Haley, a former South Carolina governor and U.N. ambassador in the Trump administration, has seen her poll numbers steadily tick up in recent months,according to 538.
Still, she and other candidates like DeSantis trail Trump by double digits nationally and in various states, despite Trump's legal troubles. (He denies all wrongdoing.)
Haley also recentlywon the backingof Americans for Prosperity Action, a powerful political advocacy group backed by billionaire Charles Koch.
DeSantis, for his part,has been endorsed by the governorof another early voting state, Iowa's Kim Reynolds; and Trump has a slew of support including from House Speaker Mike Johnson.
A spokesperson for Christie brushed off Sununu's expected endorsement later on Tuesday, after Christie courted Sununu's endorsement for months -- skipping over Iowa to focus heavily on New Hampshire. "This puts us down one vote in New Hampshire," the spokesperson said.
A DeSantis spokesperson said in their own statement that the results of Iowa, not New Hampshire, would be where "the true Trump alternative will emerge."
