Nikki Haley (left), Chris Sununu.Photo:Roy Rochlin/Getty; Craig Barritt/Getty

Roy Rochlin/Getty; Craig Barritt/Getty

RepublicanNikki Haleyhas seemingly secured a major endorsement in her campaign for president: that of New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, who is set to appear alongside the former South Carolina governor at a town hall event on Tuesday evening.

Sununu has not shied away from criticizing the Republican frontrunner, former PresidentDonald Trump, whom the New Hampshire governor once joked was"f—ing crazy"at the Gridiron Club’s roast-like dinner in 2022.

Haley herself has been one of the few Republican candidates to go after Trump, who maintains a significant lead in the polls.

In an August presidential debate, Haley, 51, called Trump, 77, “the most disliked politician in America.”

“It is time for a new generational conservative leader," Haley said during the debate, which aired on Fox News. “We have to look at the fact that three-quarters of Americans don’t want a rematch between Trump and Biden. And we have to face the fact that Trump is the most disliked politician in America. We can’t win a general election that way.”

Trump has so far not participated in any of the Republican primary debates.

Republican presidential candidates Chris Christie, Nikki Haley, Ron DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy and Tim Scott on Nov. 8, 2023.AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell

Republican presidential candidates from left, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy and Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., debate at a Republican presidential primary debate hosted by NBC News Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2023, at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts of Miami-Dade County in Miami.

AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell

Elsewhere in the same debate, Haley criticized Trump for his handling of federal spending during his White House tenure, saying, “The truth is that Biden didn’t do this to us, our Republicans did this to us too.”

She continued, saying that fellow candidatesRon DeSantis,Tim ScottandMike Pence"all voted to raise the debt limit." (Scott and Pence have since dropped out of the race.)

“They need to stop the spending, they need to stop the borrowing, they need to eliminate the earmarks that Republicans brought back in,” she added. “And Donald Trump added $8 trillion to our debt, and our kids are never going to forgive us for this.”

Despite her criticism, she confirmed in the debate that she would still back Trump if he was selected as the Republican nominee.

Then U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley meets with President Donald Trump in the Oval Office in 2018, before the political allies became rivals.OLIVIER DOULIERY/AFP via Getty

US President Donald Trump meets with Nikki Haley, the United States Ambassador to the United Nations in the Oval office of the White House on October 9, 2018 in Washington, DC.

Haley, the former governor of South Carolina, served as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under Trump from January 2017until her resignation in December 2018.

Since leaving his administration, she has both embraced andpushed backagainst Trump, at one point calling his rhetoric “so unnecessary” and at another saying he “tells the world what it needs to hear.”

She officially declared her candidacy for president in February, announcing her 2024 run on social media with a promise to prioritize fiscal responsibility, border security and foreign relations. Since then, she’s seen an uptick in popularity, and is currentlysecond behind Trump in New Hampshire polls.

source: people.com