New Hampshire GOP Debate CANCELLED After Nikki Haley Flees

Both ABC News and CNN have canceled their New Hampshire GOP debates after only Governor Ron DeSantis said he would be attending.

Nikki Haley backed out at the last minute, stating that she would only attend if President Trump attended.

President Trump never attended any Republican debates this season, confident he had already secured the Republican votes.

And it seems to have paid off.

3rd place Nikki haley refuses to debate DeSantis

CNN Cancels debatehttps://t.co/Vrre8R7HeS

— Tim Pool (@Timcast) January 17, 2024

More from ABC News:

ABC News and WMUR are canceling their planned Republican primary debate in New Hampshire on Thursday, citing a lack of candidate participation.

“Our intent was to host a debate coming out of the Iowa caucuses, but we always knew that would be contingent on the candidates and the outcome of the race,” an ABC News spokesperson said in a statement. “As a result, while our robust election coverage will continue, ABC News and WMUR-TV will not be moving forward with Thursday’s Republican presidential primary debate in New Hampshire.”

The decision comes shortly after a deadline set by ABC News and New Hampshire TV station WMUR for both former President Donald Trump and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley to respond to their invitations to the debate by Tuesday afternoon.

Neither campaign confirmed they would attend.

CNN has just cancelled its New Hampshire debate. This follows ABC doing the same. Same issue: Only one candidate (DeSantis) agreed to show up. Haley would not debate unless Trump agreed. As with all other primary debates this cycle, he's not.

— Joe Concha (@JoeConchaTV) January 17, 2024

DeSantis doesn’t seem pleased that there won’t be another debate:

“She needs to show up”: DeSantis calls out Nikki Haley for trying to skip the scheduled New Hampshire debate next week.

"When have we had a New Hampshire primary where you haven't debated in New Hampshire?” pic.twitter.com/nhRBGm0JlD

— DeSantis War Room 🐊 (@DeSantisWarRoom) January 12, 2024

More from the Washington Post:

On Tuesday, DeSantis tweeted that Haley was too “afraid to participate in the remaining debates.”

“I won’t snub New Hampshire voters like both Nikki Haley and Donald Trump, and plan to honor my commitments. I look forward to debating two empty podiums in the Granite State this week,” he added.

Trump has consistently declined to attend any GOP presidential debate this cycle. A debate with Biden onstage would not take place until the general election season.

“The public knows who I am & what a successful Presidency I had,” Trump wrote on Truth Social when he announced in the summer that he would not participate in debates during the GOP primaries.

Last week, Haley expressed frustration about having debates without Trump onstage and said she would wait until the Iowa caucuses to decide about participating in New Hampshire debates.

I, and many others, believe that Haley is using President Trump’s absence as an excuse.

She did not perform well in Iowa, and I believe she fears that if DeSantis wins a debate, it will end her campaign.

As if it had any legs to begin with…