(NewsNation) — Presidential hopeful Nikki Haley finished third at the Iowa caucuses on Monday. Still, the former South Carolina governor continued to tout her success to her supporters, claiming it was a two-person race between herself and former President Donald Trump.
Trump pulled off a historic win in Iowa and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis held on to the second-place spot, narrowly beating out Haley by two points. However, while DeSantis took second, Haley was able to win over Johnson County, stopping Trump from having a clean sweep over the state.
Haley still touted the results to supporters, even after media outlets projected that DeSantis would finish second. Her campaign called it a “strong finish” as Haley gears up for New Hampshire’s primaries.
“At one point in this campaign, there were 14 of us running. I was at 2 percent in the polls. But tonight, Iowa did what Iowa always does so well,” Haley said.
“The pundits will analyze the results from every angle. We get that. But when you look at how we’re doing in New Hampshire, in South Carolina, and beyond, I can safely say tonight, Iowa made this Republican primary a two-person race!” she added.
The comments showed how Haley is already pivoting to New Hampshire, where she is seen as a much stronger contender than DeSantis. She has generally placed second behind the former president in Granite State polling with some polls even showing her trailing him by single digits.
An average of New Hampshire surveys compiled by Decision Desk HQ and The Hill found Trump at 42 percent, Haley at 31 percent and DeSantis at close to 7 percent. But Haley still faces a long road ahead in taking on Trump, given that the former president still leads his rivals in early state and national polls.
Candidates will recalibrate ahead of New Hampshire’s primary next week. Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy officially dropped out of the race Monday night after a poor show of support from voters.
Trump holds on to a strong lead in the state, but DeSantis is expected to have a harder time knocking Haley out of second place next Tuesday.
Even former Fox News host Bill O’Reilly told NewsNation that DeSantis’ campaign was “through” after his performance at the Iowa caucuses.
“He’s through. He can go to South Carolina, he can go to Guam, he can go anywhere he wants. He’s not beating Trump. Nikki Haley — different,” O’Reilly said.
“You can’t challenge a monster like Donald Trump with a personality like Ron DeSantis. It can’t be done,” O’Reilly said. “Nikki Haley, she’s going at it in an entirely different way.”
The Hill contributed to this report.
