South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley will endorse U.S. Senator Marco Rubio on Wednesday for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, a newspaper reported, days before the state's presidential primary on Saturday.
Haley was scheduled to appear with Rubio on Wednesday night in Chapin, South Carolina, for a town hall gathering, the Post and Courier of Charleston reported.
Haley is by far the state's most popular politician chose Rubio over former Fla. Gov. Jeb Bush who has also worked with the governor and helped her raise money for her 2014 reelection campaign.
Her endorsement is yet another signal that establishment Republicans want to coalesce around a candidate who has a good chance of stopping Sen. Ted Cruz and Donald Trump.
Rubio also has the support of major South Carolina GOP figures including Sen. Tim Scott and Rep. Trey Gowdy.
Earlier, Haley only said she would not endorse current GOP front-runner Donald Trump.
"It's unfortunate when a candidate comes into South Carolina and doesn't know South Carolina's issues," she said Tuesday, referring to the GOP front-runner's criticism of her a day earlier, The State reports.
Trump represents "everything a governor doesn't want in a president," she added, CBS News reports, referring to Trump's criticism of her for not fighting the federal government hard enough on Syrian refugees and Guantanamo.
The State reports Haley — one of the state's most popular Republican politicians and a rising national GOP star — noted she already battles with President Barack Obama over the authority of the state — and jabbed the real estate billionaire's criticism as "quite Obama-like."
Haley had previously said she was "doing what I think a lot of people in South Carolina are doing, which is I watched the debate [last Saturday night], I'm trying to go through all the situations, I'm looking at all the different candidates that are there, and I'm trying to figure out who that person would be," she said, The State reported.
"The decision is whether an endorsement would matter, and whether I jump out there or stay out of it," she said. "I want someone who will hold Republicans accountable," she added.
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