Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley fended off repeated calls from those in the GOP for her to bow out of the presidential race, saying that by remaining, “she was strengthening the party.” 

When asked in an interview with the Wall Street Journal earlier this week if she was harming the party’s outcome in November, the former United Nations ambassador claimed that her mission to be the Republican nominee has benefited the party. 

“I’m strengthening the party because I bring more people into the Republican Party, instead of pushing people away like Trump,” Haley said. 

Despite trailing 30 points behind former President Donald Trump in South Carolina poll averages ahead of its Feb. 24 primary, Haley has stated before that she will stay in the race until at least Super Tuesday on March 5, saying confidently that she was going to win. 

Haley, 52, has pitched herself as a younger, foreign policy-experienced alternative to Trump, 77, for voters who have grown fatigued at the prospect of another Trump versus President Joe Biden rematch in November. Polls also show that Haley does better than Trump with more moderate or even Democratic voters. 

Trump disagreed with Haley’s claims that her candidacy has been good for the Republican Party, telling reporters on Thursday in Florida, “It’s bad for the party. I think it’s actually bad for her, too.”

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Others within the GOP, such as former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy and Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), who dropped out of the race after Trump’s win in Iowa, have previously called on Haley to join them in bowing out of the race.

Haley’s comments come after losing to Trump in the Nevada primary, where she was the only Republican nominee on the actual ballot. Up next are the South Carolina primary and the Feb. 27 Michigan primary, where Trump has a hefty 51-point lead over Haley, according to a RealClearPolitics poll average.