South Carolina governor Nikki Haley will endorse Marco Rubio for president. The Post and Courier reports:
Haley was elected governor in 2010, the same year Rubio won his election to the Senate in Florida. After a difficult first term in Columbia, she won reelection by a larger margin in 2014.
In 2012, Haley endorsed Mitt Romney before her state’s first-in-the-South primary, but Newt Gingrich bested the eventual GOP nominee in South Carolina by 12 points.
At the time, her approval rating was below 50 percent in South Carolina, but her popularity within the Palmetto State has surged since her 2014 reelection. One poll taken last November found 56 percent of the state’s voters approve of Haley’s job as governor.
South Carolina’s Republican primary is Saturday, February 20.
