Good morning, Broadsheet readers! Women were the largest demographic of new business owners in 2023, Jill Biden’s State of the Union guest reflects Dems’ abortion push, and Nikki Haley hangs on in the GOP presidential primary. Have a thoughtful Thursday.
– Still in it. Going into Tuesday’s GOP presidential primary election in New Hampshire, few anticipated Nikki Haley would win—even though the contest was widely seen as her best chance to defeat Donald Trump. So the candidate made a proactive announcement: Even if she failed to dethrone Trump in the primary, she would stay in the race.
That’s exactly what happened Tuesday night, with Trump earning 54.4% of the vote to Haley’s 43.3%. After the results came in, Haley confirmed that she plans to stick it out and focus on her next contest in her home state of South Carolina. After that, she aims to make it to Super Tuesday on March 5. She’s the last serious candidate in the race against Trump after the exit of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
“New Hampshire is first in the nation. It is not the last in the nation. This race is far from over,” the former South Carolina governor and UN ambassador said Tuesday night. Trump responded to Haley’s insistence on staying in the race with his typical taunting. He told crowds that she “did very poorly actually.”
Haley has appealed to GOP voters—and, more significantly, donors—who want anyone but Trump. But a few other X factors may be behind her decision to stay in the race, like the possibility that Trump is barred from the ballot in states beyond Colorado and Maine. Those two states have deemed the former president ineligible based on a clause that disqualifies those who have “engaged in insurrection or rebellion.” Ballot challenges are underway in a dozen states, but Trump has appealed the rulings in Colorado and Maine and could very well be on the ballot as usual nationwide.
The former president is embroiled in all kinds of legal trouble, including Georgia’s election interference case and E. Jean Caroll’s defamation lawsuit, which followed her allegations of sexual abuse. Even if Trump retains his grip on the GOP voting base through the primaries, some Republicans hope that Haley will be around as an alternative if factors beyond the ballot take him down. However, that far-fetched possibility grows more distant with every contest Trump wins.
Haley is already the last woman standing; now it’s a matter of how long she can hang on.
Emma Hinchliffe
emma.hinchliffe@fortune.com
@_emmahinchliffe
The Broadsheet is Fortune’s newsletter for and about the world’s most powerful women. Today’s edition was curated by Joseph Abrams. Subscribe here.
ALSO IN THE HEADLINES
- Business is booming. Women were the largest demographic of new business owners in 2023 with 58,000 businesses started, according to Yelp. Almost half of these new businesses were in the hotel and travel sector, and it was the first year that women started more businesses in the home service industries, like carpentry and masonry, than in the beauty industry. Fast Company
- State to state. Kate Cox, the Texas mother who had to leave her home state for an emergency abortion, will join First Lady Jill Biden as a guest at this year's State of the Union. The invite reflects President Joe Biden's larger focus on reproductive rights during the speech and throughout his 2024 campaign. Axios
- Yellen the truth. U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen will tell the nation that “it is still too hard to be a working parent” during a Thursday speech where she’s expected to lay out her 2024 agenda. Yellen is expected to highlight the ways she and the Biden administration plan on supporting middle class families, including the reintroduction of the Child Tax Credit that expired at the end of 2021. CNN
- Scream statement. In a Rolling Stone interview, actress Melissa Barrera defended social media posts she made about the Israel-Hamas conflict that led to her firing from the Scream franchise. She explained that the November posts, which called for a ceasefire in Gaza, "came from a place of love" and "shouldn't be controversial." Rolling Stone
- Breaking point. The uproar over Kyte Baby's mishandling of an employee's request for remote work while her newborn was in the NICU is about more than one small company or the hypocrisy of a baby brand. The saga is resonating with working moms frustrated with inflexible remote work policies. Bloomberg
MOVERS AND SHAKERS: Katherine Maher, who became Web Summit CEO amid crisis, will leave to become NPR's chief executive officer. Wizeline appointed Fausta Ballesteros as chief marketing officer. Curriculum Associates named Kelly Sia as president. Immersive Labs announced Julie Chapman as chief customer officer.
ON MY RADAR
Cindy Sherman: Woman of an uncertain age New York Times
The ice cool of Jessica McCormack Financial Times
There's an assault on diversity and inclusion. What can a new era for Black women professionals look like? Essence
PARTING WORDS
"We definitely don't do what the other brands do because, No. 1, they have me."
—Bobbi Brown on what she brings to her beauty brand Jones Road
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