Nikki Haley, who held out the longest among the rivals of former President Donald J. Trump in the Republican primaries, formally endorsed him on Tuesday at the party’s nominating convention, urging her supporters to set aside their disagreements and stand united with their party for the good of the nation.
“I’ll start by making one thing perfectly clear,” she said, speaking slowly and pointedly. “Donald Trump has my strong endorsement — period.”
Ms. Haley, a former governor of South Carolina and a United Nations ambassador under Mr. Trump, was initially not invited to speak at the event. But that changed after Mr. Trump was injured over the weekend in an assassination attempt.
“My fellow Republicans, President Trump asked me to speak to this convention in the name of unity,” she said. “It was a gracious invitation, and I was happy to accept.”
On Tuesday, she used the moment to speak about immigration and foreign policy, denouncing the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East and stirring fears about the rise in migration at the southern border. The issues were pillars of her presidential run, and ones she often employed on the campaign trail to highlight her differences with Mr. Trump and many members of her party.
But instead of using her familiar talking points to underscore the divides, Ms. Haley drew contrasts between Mr. Trump and President Biden. She called her former boss someone who “is clear about who is our friend and who is our enemy.”
She described Mr. Biden in stark terms, saying he had “failed this nation.”
She also called on Republicans to accept her supporters, as well as others from different backgrounds and with different experiences. “We must not only be a unified party,” she said. “We must also expand our party.”
Ms. Haley had said in May that she would vote for Mr. Trump in November, but she stopped short of a full endorsement. Ahead of the convention last week, she announced she was releasing her 97 delegates and urging them to support Mr. Trump.
Ms. Haley has kept a relatively low profile since she left the race, a bruising contest during which her relationship with the former president increasingly soured. Even after Ms. Haley suspended her campaign, she continued to draw notable percentages of independents, Republicans and moderate Democrats in primary contests.
During her convention speech, the Biden campaign, which has been trying to court Haley voters eager for a Trump alternative, put out a statement that revived Ms. Haley’s criticisms of Mr. Trump during the primary.
“Ambassador Haley said it best herself: Someone who doesn’t respect our military, doesn’t know right from wrong and ‘surrounds himself in chaos’ can’t be president,” a campaign official said in a statement.
Ms. Haley took the stage to cheers and applause — along with a few boos — and spoke under the glow of pinkish and purplish lights. Her presence was a softer contrast to many of the night’s speakers who used their remarks to fuel conspiracy theories and paint a dystopian picture of the southern border and the people crossing it.
Though, in her usual fashion, her broadsides could be just as sharp in tone.
“We have no idea who they are, where they are or what they plan to do,” Ms. Haley said of migrants seeking entry into the country.
At times the audience cheered or broke into chants of “U.S.A.”
“You don’t have to agree with Trump 100 percent of the time to vote for him,” Ms. Haley said to resounding cheers. “Take it from me.”
Whether her pleadings will sway her supporters remains uncertain. Some of her delegates refused to attend the convention at all.
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