Republican senator Susan Collins refuses to endorse Trump after Haley exit

Maine Republican Senator Susan Collins declined to endorse anyone after Nikki Haley dropped out of the presidential race when the senator was asked by The Independent on Wednesday.

Alaska Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski said “I wish she hadn’t,” regarding the former UN Ambassador leaving the race.

Ms Haley dropped out of the presidential race this morning after she only managed to win Vermont on Super Tuesday. Eleven races were called in favour of Donald Trump, who took the stage at Mar-a-Lago to declare victory.

After making no appearance on Tuesday, Haley spoke in Charleston today.

“The time has now come to suspend my campaign,” she said.

“In all likelihood, Donald Trump will be the Republican nominee when our party convention meets in July. I congratulate him, and wish him well,” she said.

But she declined to endorse the former president.

“I have always been a conservative Republican and always supported the Republican nominee,” she concluded. “But on this question, as she did on so many others, Margaret Thatcher provided some good advice when she said, ‘Never just follow the crowd. Always make up your own mind.’”

Ms Collins backed Ms Haley before she dropped out but declined to endorse either Mr Trump or President Joe Biden when speaking to The Independent on Wednesday.

At a rally in Portland, Maine on Sunday, Ms Haley praised Ms Collins’s courage for backing her even as most of her party is supporting Mr Trump.

“When all the fellas are falling in line, she showed why she’s got a steel spine,” Ms Haley said, according to USA Today. “Thank you for showing the fellas that you’ve got more balls than them.”

On Tuesday, Mr Trump beat Ms Haley in the Maine Republican presidential primary by a wide margin, winning