Nikki Haley (Republican)

December 8, 2023: Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley’s ascendancy in the GOP presidential race has brought new financial support, but also newfound attention from her rivals trying to topple former President Donald Trump. (CNN)

But in the face of increased scrutiny, Haley’s allies increasingly are thinking about the long game. She needs to exceed expectations in debates and in the first few primary contests next year, they say, as she attempts to outlasts outer candidates. Chief among those rivals? Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who had initially been seen as the main alternative to Trump, before Haley started to rise in the polls and secured the endorsement last week of the influential conservative network, Americans for Prosperity Action…

…Haley’s team was happy with the debate performance, according to two Republican sources with knowledge of their thinking, even if she didn’t have a clear breakout moment like in past debates. She doesn’t need to win a shouting match, these Republicans said. One of those sources explained that Haley and her team “want the section of primary voters who want ‘normal’ to see she was being presidential.”

The voters who love the shouting … aren’t really up for grabs” for Haley, that Republican added…

…During the debate, Haley doubled down on accepting donations from any donor, even Democrats. Top Democrat donor Reid Hoffman said this week that he has donated to a super PAC supporting Haley. The former South Carolina governor stressed that that wouldn’t compromise her conservative bonafides. But one seasoned Republican strategist warned that comments like that would hurt Haley in the long run and weigh her down among the non-Trump candidates…

…Some Republicans are casting Haley as a moderate, said Republican strategist Gail Gitcho, even though she herself aligns more with conservatives. Going forward, Haley will have to allay the perception that she cannot appeal to the primary voters and donors she needs to win the nomination…

December 10, 2023: Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) said in a Sunday interview that 2024 GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley is the “only one that has a shot” at beating former President Trump for the Republican nomination, but he declined to endorse any candidate specifically. (The Hill)

“Well, because if I endorsed them, that would be the kiss of death. I’m not going to do that,” Romney said, laughing, on NBC News’s “Meet the Press” when asked why he has not endorsed anyone in the GOP race yet. “Shall I endorse the person I like least right now?”

Romney praised former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s performance, but suggested it’s pretty clear Christie does not have a strong chance at the nomination, as opposed to Haley, who might.

“I’m not gonna be endorsing President Trump, obviously. I’ve made that very clear. Look, Chris Christie has done a terrific job so far. I think his being in the race has kept Donald Trump from coming to the debates, because I think Donald Trump recognized if he want to the debate with Chris Christie, Chris Christie would reveal him for what he was. And Trump would be badly hurt. So he stayed out,” Romney said about Christie.

“Nikki Haley, she’s rising. Right now, I think she’s the only one that has a shot at becoming the nominee other than President Trump. It’s a long shot on her part, but she’s the only one that has a shot. So we’ll see,” he said…

December 12, 2023: New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu is set to endorse Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley on Tuesday evening at her town hall event in Manchester, according to reports (The Hill)

Sununu’s potential endorsement is key in the early voting state, where Haley and other candidates have six weeks to catch up to former President Trump, who is the front-runner.

Haley, who served as ambassador to the United Nations, has been gaining momentum in the polls thanks to several strong debate performances.

Sununu is a vocal Trump critic who has yet to throw support behind any candidate competing against the former president. He spent time on the campaign trail with Haley, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R).

Sununu, who is serving his fourth term as New Hampshire’s governor, previously mulled a bid for the GOP nomination himself, but opted to stay out of the race in June…

…In a November poll, 46 percent of registered Republicans or undeclared New Hampshire voters said they would vote for Trump and 18 percent said they would cast their ballot for Haley in a hypothetical primary race…

December 17, 2023: GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley is gaining some momentum on former President Trump among New Hampshire Republican voters, though Trump still holds a strong lead in the early nominating contest. (The Hill)

The latest CBS News/YouGov poll released Sunday found Haley has emerged as a top alternative to the former president, consolidating much of the non-Trump vote. Among likely GOP primary voters, 29 percent say they would vote for the former South Carolina governor, putting her 15 points behind Trump.

Eleven percent say they would vote for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, and 10 percent say they would vote for former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie. No other candidate received more than 10 percent.

Regarding who can beat President Biden, 51 percent of voters said Trump would “definitely” do so, while 32 percent said the same for Haley — underscoring just how strong of a hold the former president has on Republicans…

…Haley is overwhelmingly seen as the most likable, receiving 55 percent of the vote. DeSantis falls in second, holding 37 percent of the vote, while Trump and Vivek Ramaswamy are tied for third, holding 36 percent of the vote.

A majority of voters also said that Haley is the most reasonable of the candidates; 51 percent voted for the former U.N. ambassador, while 37 percent said DeSantis was the most reasonable. Trump falls in third with 36 percent.

Despite Haley’s likability, Trump is seen as more prepared — but only by 1 point. The poll found that 54 percent say Trump seems the most prepared, while 53 percent named Hall. DeSantis was third, holding 44 percent of the vote…

December 17, 2023: Donald Trump still leads in New Hampshire, but Nikki Haley has consolidated much of the non-Trump vote and has emerged as the top alternative to him there. Among the top candidates, Haley gets the best marks on being seen as “likable” and “reasonable,” and she runs nearly even with Trump on being “prepared” — notable, considering he held the presidency. She has been running in part on electability and is now seen as the most electable of Trump’s challengers (CNBC News)

Meanwhile, Trump has consolidated his already commanding lead in Iowa, where likely caucus-goers overwhelmingly see him as a “strong leader,” where his backers say he “represents Iowa values,” and where he is boosted by an electorate in which nearly half say they are part of the MAGA movement…

…Despite leading by double digits, Trump isn’t seen as the most likable or even reasonable candidate in New Hampshire. He does dominate on being seen as a “strong leader” by primary voter, and on the view that he would beat Joe Biden.

Haley has been given a boost by New Hampshire’s more moderate electoral relative to Iowa. She has made inroads among self-described moderates and independents, running close to Trump among them now. (Independents can, and often do, vote in the GOP primary.) And its these groups who express more openness, in principle, to a candidate dissimilar to Trump, if he isn’t the nominee…

December 26, 2023: It’s the day after Christmas and the countdown to primary season is on. It’s just three weeks before the Iowa Caucuses, the first battle in the leadup to the 2024 election. (The Hill)

Former President Trump is the overwhelming favorite in Iowa and for the GOP nomination, but in New Hampshire, which will hold a primary just eight days after the Iowa contest, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is gaining on Trump. Trump has a healthy 17-percentage-point lead on Haley in the aggregation of polls kept by Decision Desk and The Hill, but that’s down significantly since the beginning of December.

As recently as Dec. 6, Trump had a 27-point lead over Haley. And in a surprise poll, released at the end of last week by the American Research Group, Trump had just a four-point lead on Haley. Almost every primary season throws up surprises, writes The Hill’s Niall Stanage, and an extra measure of volatility is added to the mix this time around because of the legal troubles hanging over Trump’s head…

December 28, 2023: Nikki Haley on Thursday sought to clarify her comments about the Civil War one day after a voter in New Hampshire called her out for not mentioning slavery as a cause of the war. (CNN)

“I mean, of course the Civil War was about slavery,” Haley told radio host Jack Health Thursday morning.

“But what’s the lesson in all of that?” she continued. “That we need to make sure that every person has freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom to do and be anything they want to be without anyone or government getting in the way. That was the goal of what that was at. Yes, I know it was about slavery. I’m from the South, of course I know it’s about slavery.”

Her comments come amid intense backlash inside and outside the GOP after Haley told a New Hampshire town hall crowd that the Civil War was about the government interfering in people’s freedoms.

“I mean, I think the cause of the Civil War was basically how government was going to run. The freedoms and what people could and couldn’t do,” Haley had said Wednesday in visit to Berlin (New Hampshire) — the first of five events in the Granite State as she attempts to close the gap with Republican front-runner Donald Trump ahead of next month’s primary…

January 6, 2023: The stage is literally set here at the University of Alabama for the final GOP debate of 2023. (The Hill)

The stakes are huge for the two highest-polling candidates who will appear: former United Nation’s Ambassador Nikki Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.

Haley has been on the rise, in part thanks to strong debate performances. She looks to be on the brink of supplanting DeSantis for second place.

DeSantis can’t let that happen, as it would shatter one of the central planks of his candidacy — that he is the most viable alternative to former President Trump.

DeSantis and Haley are way behind Trump. The former president is 46 points in the clear in the national polling average maintained by the data site FiveThirtyEight.

Haley and DeSantis need to do more than gain an edge over each other at the debate Wednesday evening: They need to find a true game-changing moment.

That will be an uphill battle, but it’s not impossible.

For a start, this will be the least cluttered debate stage so far. Only two other candidates have qualified and will participate — businessman Vivek Ramaswamy and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

Trump, who would easily qualify, has declined to participate in any debates so far…

January 6, 2023: Nikki Haley refused to take the bait from rival Vivek Ramaswamy during Wednesday night’s debate in Alabama, shrugging off an attack from the conservative entrepreneur. (The Hill)

“No,” Haley said, when asked by co-moderator Eliana Johnson if she wanted to respond to Ramaswamy’s attacks against her. “It’s not worth my time to respond to him.”

Cheers could be heard from the audience following her response.

Ramaswamy had accused Haley of having “a corrupt problem” and held up a pad of paper with “NIKKI = CORRUPT” written out on it, prompting a mix of boos and cheers from the audience of the Tuscaloosa event.

He called her “a puppet” and accused her of “using identity politics” as “a form of intellectual fraud.”…

…Ramaswamy and Haley have sparred in firefly back-and-forth exchanges during the previous debates, and Ramaswamy took the fourth debate as another opportunity to come out swinging against the former U.N. ambassador.

Haley has seen boost from her prior debate performances and the fourth debate has been seen as key for her effort to surge ahead of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and secure the second-place slot in the party’s primary field — led by former President Trump — once voting starts in January.

January 8, 2023: Former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley is increasingly targeting Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) on environmental issues assailing his policy record on climate and energy in his state at multiple GOP presidential debates as the two jostle for second in the party’s primary. (The Hill)

DeSantis appeared to come out ahead of Haley in Wednesday night’s fourth Republican debate, hosted by The Hill’s sister news organization NewsNation, which saw the Florida governor go on the offensive agains the onetime UN ambassador and the subject of his environmental record go unmentioned. That marked a notable contrast with the previous two debates, in which Haley mounted a number of sharp attacks against DeSantis on the issue as she worked to build momentum both in the polls and among anti-Trump donors as the leading alternative to the former president.

She broached the subject at the second Republican debate in September, accusing the Florida Governor of undermining his own presidential campaign pledges to ramp up fossil fuel production with his policies as governor. Specifically, she pointed to his opposition to fracking, the process of fracturing rock to extract natural gas, as well as offshore drilling in the Sunshine State.

DeSantis countered that Floridians voted in a ballot initiative to ban offshore drilling, with Haley in turn pointing to his opposition to fracking in Florida independent of any ballot initiative.

Haley went further in the third debate, saying DeSantis “was praised by the Sierra Club, and you’re trying to make up for it and act like you weren’t a liberal when it comes to the environment. You were, you always have been, just own it if that’s the case, but don’t keep saying you’re something you’re not.”…

May 18, 2023: Iowa – GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley has a message for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R): “Welcome to the race. We’ve been waiting.” (The Hill)

Haley, in an exclusive on-camera interview with The Hill at a campaign stop on the banks of the Mississippi, added, “I’m glad that he’s going to be out there, because I want the American people to see who they’re choosing from.”

Haley was reading to the news report that the Florida governor would finally officially enter the presidential race next week.

Haley, a former South Carolina governor and United Nations ambassador, has been running for president since February and has at times jabbed other potential candidates for their reticence to enter the race.

Haley has one similarity with DeSantis, however – she too is willing to plunge into the most contentious battles in the culture wars…

…The only female candidate in the race, Haley has staked out a more nuanced position than some on abortion. While she signed a 20-week ban on abortion as governor of South Carolina, she does not currently back a federal ban.

Pressed on whether she would back such a ban if it were politically possible, she contended: “It’s not realistic.”

“The idea that a Republican president is going to go ban all abortions is not true,” she said. “So I think we have to be honest with the American people, not scare them, but tell the truth and let them know exactly what is truly debatable and what’s not.”…

May 15, 2023: Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley’s husband will set out on a deployment with the South Caroline National Guard to Africa in the coming weeks, according to a person familiar with the deployment. (The Hill)

…Michael Haley’s deployment with the State National Guard will be in support of the United States Africa Command. He will likely remain on deployment through the spring of 2024…

…Michael Haley is currently a major in the South Carolina National Guard. He joined the military branch in 2006 as an officer. In 2023, he deployed to Afghanistan’s Helmand Province.

His deployment comes as Nikki Haley continues to barnstorm through early presidential nominating states as part of her presidential campaign. Haley will attend Sen. Joni Ernst’s (R-Iowa) annual Roast and Ride event with a number of other Republican presidential hopefuls Saturday and will participate in a CNN town hall Sunday…

June 17, 2023: Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley wished her husband farewell at a ceremony Saturday as he starts a yearlong deployment with the South Carolina Army National Guard. (The Hill)

Maj. Michael Haley, the husband of the former ambassador to the United Nations, is being sent as a staff officer with the 218th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade in the Horn of Africa.

The ceremony was for about 200 soldiers at The Citadel, a military college in Charleston.

“He’s always been my rock,” Haley said after the ceremony. “We have both lived a life of service, and so when he goes off to deploy, my support is completely with him. If I happen to be running for president, his support is completely with me.”…

…Nikki and Michael Haley have been married for 26 years. He has consistently been present at rallies she has held so far during her candidacy. The campaign has said their son, Nalin, will take over the role Michael has served…

July 24, 2023: GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley said she would support former President Trump if he becomes the Republican nominee for president in 2024. (The Hill)

But she also said she doesn’t believe the former president can win a general election.

Haley, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and former governor of South Carolina, said in an interview on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” Monday that the country needs a “new generational leader” but added she would back Trump if he wins the primary.

“I would support him because I am not going to have a President Kamala Harris. We can’t afford that. That is not going to happen,” she said.

Haley has previously sharply criticized President Biden’s age, arguing that he would not live to be 86 years old, which would be his age at the end of a second term. She has said reelecting Biden could lead to Harris becoming president…

July 27, 2023: GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley is pushing back against fellow White House hopeful Chris Christie (R) claims that she and some other candidates do not call out former President Trump enough. (The Hill)

“Well, I’m not obsessively anti-Trump like he is,” Haley said in an interview with Fox News Digital. “I talk about policies,” she said, pointing to times she has “disagreed with Trump” including over Jan. 6, government spending, and the Russia-Ukraine war.

Christie, a former governor of New Jersey, has criticized 2024 Republican presidential candidates on multiple occasions for not taking aim at the former president. In April, Christie compared the candidates’ treatment of Trump to that of Lord Voldemort, a character from the Harry Potter series who is so feared people do not speak his name…

August 31, 2023: Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley reiterated her call for competency tests for older politicians after Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) appeared to enter a catatonic state. (MEDIAITE)

McConnell froze on Wednesday after a reporter asked if he is running for reelection in 2026…

…Appearing on Thursday’s edition of The Story on Fox News, Haley offered her reaction.

“It’s sad,” she said. “No one should feel good about seeing that any more than we should feel good about seeing Dianne Feinstein, any more than we should feel good about a lot of what’s happening or seeing Joe Biden’s decline. What I will say is, right now, the Senate is the most privileged nursing home in the country. I mean, Mitch McConnell has done some great things and he deserves credit. But you have to know when to leave.”

Haley then called for term limits and cognitive testing…

September 15, 2023: While Nikki Haley was on the debate stage in Milwaukee last month, her Iowa state director’s phone was blowing up. (NBC News)

“Just from start to end during the debate, I got more than 400 texts and email from different people saying, “I’m in,'” Bill Mackey told NBC News, saying he heard from many Iowa voters that saw her standout performance as “their moment of saying, ‘OK, I’ve seen enough.”

It’s with that new level of attention and expectation that Haley returns to Iowa Friday – her first swing through the Hawkeye State in several weeks, exactly four months ahead of the Jan. 15 caucuses. But the primary debate’s impact has already been visible elsewhere: At two separate events in South Carolina, Haley attracted more than 1,000 attendees – exceeding both expectations and venue capacity. Her campaign raked in over $1 million in fundraising in the days immediately after the debate. And a new Monmouth University-Washington Post poll showed her pulling away from the pack into second place in her home state, though still well behind Donald Trump…

…The former South Carolina governor has done 36 events in Iowa in her seven months as a candidate – the most amount the 2024 hopefuls, according to an NBC News review of candidate schedules – and she’ll add another seven this weekend…

November 20, 2023: Of all of Donald Trump’s distant challenges for the GOP nomination, Nikki Haley has emerged as perhaps the most viable alternative – rising in the polls and raking in donor dollars on the strength of debate performances in which she registered as more reasonable than most of her rivals. But in an appearance in Iowa over the weekend, the former South Carolina governor made it clear she’s cut from the same cloth as her fellow Republicans, including on abortion. (Vanity Fair)

…Haley, a former Trump administration official, had a stand-out moment in the third GOP primary debate where she called to “find consensus” on abortion: “As much as I’m pro-life, I don’t judge anyone for being pro-choice, and I don’t want them to judge me for being pro-life,” Haley said. “We don’t need to divide America over this issue anymore.”

Of course, Haley has good reason to want the issue to be less charged: The day before that Miami debate, voters in off-year races across the country once again expressed their displeasure with the GOP’s anti-abortion extremism at the ballot box, in what President Joe Biden and the Democrats hope is a preview of next fall’s general election. Haley’s comparatively soft rhetoric around abortion on November 8 wasn’t a statement of principle so much as it was an effort to find less politically-damaging ways to talk about the issue…

December 2, 2023: GOP hopeful Nikki Haley faces a moment of truth in the next primary debate Wednesday in Alabama: Can she seize on her momentum and put in a top-level performance that will turn her into a real rival for the presidential nomination to former President Trump? (The Hill)

The former United Nation’s ambassador has seen boosts from her previous debate performances, and another standout showing could propel her ahead of Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), who has long been considered Trump’s closest rival.

Given Trump’s significant lead over the rest of the GOP field, all eyes are on the race for second place – with just more than a month before 2024 voting kicks off with the Iowa caucuses in mid-January…

…Haley got another boost last week when Americans for Prosperity Action, the conservative network led by billionaire Charles Koch, backed her 2024 bid. JPMorgam Chase CEO Jamie Dimon also called for Democrats to help Haley in her bid…

…The fourth debate – which is being hosted and broadcast by NewsNation and is being held in Tuscaloosa – is also a pivotal moment for DeSantis.

…The Republican National Committee (RNC) hasn’t yet announced which candidates have met their heightened criteria for the fourth debate, but Haley, DeSantis and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy appear to have qualified. Chris Christie’s team has said the former New Jersey governor has also met the donor criteria.

Trump has skipped the debate stages so far, and plans to forgo the next…

December 8, 2023: Home Depot co-founder and billionaire Ken Langone put his support behind GOP hopeful Nikki Haley on Friday, calling her approach to the 2024 election “smart.” (The Hill)…

…The backing from Langone, who endorsed former President Trump in his 2016 White House campaign, comes after Haley secured an endorsement from another top donor: the Koch-affiliated Americans for Prosperity (AFP) Action. The organization announced their support last month, making the first time a deep-pocketed group has endorsed a GOP candidate in a presidential primary…

…Haley’s endorsements have given her a leg up on DeSantis, who was long seen as Trump’s biggest rival in the race. But, despite her best efforts and donors, skepticism remains over whether she can truly overtake Trump, who is in the lead by double digits in national polling.

December 9, 2023: Nikki Haley is seeking to rebound after a debate performance in Alabama that drew a mixed reception from Republicans a little more than a month out from the Iowa caucuses. (The Hill)

Haley went into the debate, which was hosted by The Hill’s sister news organization NewsNation, with high expectations after several strong debate performances gave her a burst of momentum in recent months. It was immediately clear during the Wednesday night event that the former U.N. ambassador was the candidate to take on, with rivals – including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) – hurling attacks at her right out of the gate as they vie to be the main alternative to former President Trump in the Republican presidential primary.

While observers said Haley didn’t have a terrible showing in Tuscaloosa, Ala., many said she failed to stand out like she did in previous debates, potentially threatening her standing as she and DeSantis look to shore up the most support among Republican voters wanting to move on from Trump…

…DeSantis had long been seen as the party’s best Trump alternative, but Haley has surged in recent weeks, threatening the Florida governor’s runner-up status. Haley has been gaining on DeSantis in Iowa and has far surpassed him in New Hampshire, according to RealClearPolitics polling averages of each state…

…Haley’s campaign maintained she left the event in a strong position, pointing to a CNN focus group of Iowa voters that voted Haley as the winner. The Wall Street Journal also reported that Haley was the most searched-for candidate on Google during the debate…

…Haley and DeSantis both would benefit from candidates like Ramaswamy and Christie to start dropping out, strategists noted…

December 15, 2023: Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley announced Friday that she’ll take part in the CNN presidential debate slated for next month in Iowa, just days before the state’s GOP caucus kicks off the presidential nominating cycle. (The Hill)

“The first four debates have been great for our campaign and for voters, and we look forward to the fifth in Iowa,” Haley said in a statement.

The former U.N. ambassador also called on former President Trump, who has skipped the four debates held so far, to take part in the debate.

“As the debate stage continues to shrink, it’s getting harder for Donald Trump to hide,” Haley said.

Trump, the GOP front-runner for the nomination, has cited his significant lead over competitors as a reason for not participating – and they’ve taken jabs at his absence during the events.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has also said he plans to take part in the Iowa program. Other candidates haven’t directly confirmed they’ll participate in the Hawkeye State event, which also requires them to clear a high polling threshold…

…CNN will host its Jan. 10 debate in Iowa five days before the [Republican] caucus, and announced plans for another in New Hampshire on Jan. 21, just before the Jan. 23 primary. ABC is planning a Jan. 18 debate in the Granite State.

December 15, 2023: Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley dismissed an invitation from Fox News Host Sean Hannity to debate fellow GOP primary candidate and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. (The Hill)

“I’ve debated him four times. I love debates. I have no issue wit that,” Haley said when asked by Hannity if she would participate in a one-on-one with DeSantis. “But quite honestly, the person I want to debate is Donald Trump. If you can get him on your show, that’s who I want to debate. That’s who we’re looking at.”

Former President Trump, the race’s front-runner, has so far not participated in any of the four Republican presidential primary debates, citing his large lead over the rest of the field…

December 20, 2023: Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley expressed her opposition Wednesday to the Colorado Supreme Court’s ruling to disqualify former President Trump from the state ballot, arguing the decision is “truly unthinkable.”

“The idea that judges are going to take it upon themselves to decided who can and can’t be on the ballot is truly unthinkable,” Haley said in an interview with Fox New’s Martha MacCallum. “And I think the people of Colorado should be furious.”

Colorado’s high court handed down a ruling stating that Trump should be prevented from appearing on the ballot under the 14th Amendment’s insurrection clause, which states those who took oaths to support the Constitution cannot engage in rebellion against it.

The court’s 4-3 ruling states Trump engaged in an insurrection by falsely claiming election fraud and rallying his supporters to go to the Capitol prior to the Jan. 6, 2021 attack, and rules the office of the presidency falls under the insurrection clause.

Haley, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and former governor of South Carolina, emphasized she will defeat Trump “on [her] own and doesn’t need a judge to remove him from the ballot.

“I don’t think [Trump] should be president, I think I should be president,” Haley said Wednesday. “I think our country would do a lot better if I was, but we should have this race fair and square with him on the ballot, just like everybody else.”

“And the idea that we go and say, just because these liberal justices don’t like him, they want to take him off the ballot – that’s not democracy, that’s not who we are. That’s not what we need to do.”…

December 20, 2023: Nikki Haley is facing a barrage of sexist attacks in her bid to become the GOP nominee for president, underscoring the hurdles women face when running for the highest office in the country. (The Hill)

The 51-year-old former United Nations ambassador is experiencing surging momentum as the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary near, tailoring her pitch around her credentials to beat President Biden.

But the gendered attacks from her male opponents also raise the question of how they might impact her standing before voting begins in the critical early primary states.

“There’s no winning, no matter what approach she chooses,” said Jennifer Horn, a former New Hampshire GoP chairwoman. “Whether she decides to ignore it and continue or just advance her message or to stand up and push back strongly, it’s a lose lose.”…

…Haley, who is still polling behind former President Trump, has nonetheless risen among other rivals after she used several strong televised debate performances to position herself as a viable alternative to the 45th president. On the national stage, she came out strongly against Vivek Ramaswamy, a biotech executive who repeatedly used gender-based critiques against her…

…The survey by CBS News shows her closing in on Trump and outpacing him as more “likable,” a historically tough metric for female candidates to overcome. She’s also seen as the most “reasonable,” according to the survey, and is just 1 point below Trump in preparedness for higher office, earning 53 percent to his 54 percent…

December 20, 2023: Former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley tied with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in Quinnipiac University’s newest poll of the GOP presidential primary race, marking the latest sign of Haley’s emerging threat to the Florida governor. (The Hill)

The new poll, published by Quinnipiac University on Wednesday, found 67 percent of Republican and Republican-leaning voters support President Trump, while DeSantis and Haley each received 11 percent support.

Biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s support fell into the single digits, with 4 percent choosing Ramaswamy and 3 percent choosing Christie.

The poll marked Trump and Haley’s highest levels of support and DeSantis’ lowest point since Quinnipiac University began the national surveys in February 2023. In February, DeSantis received 36 percent support, pollsters noted…

…Haley has continued to rise in the polls in recent weeks, and in some places, – notably New Hampshire – she has surpassed DeSantis’s once-comfortable second-place spot…

…Trump has continued to maintain a strong lead over his GOP rivals in recent polls, despite four ongoing criminal cases, a civil fraud trial and, as of Tuesday, a ruling from the Colorado Supreme Court that bars him from appearing on the state’s ballot.

January 9, 2024: Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley has trimmed former President Donald Trump’s lead in the Republican primary race in New Hampshire to single digits, according to a new CNN Poll conducted by the University of New Hampshire. (CNN)

Trump still holds a meaningful lead in the poll, with the backing of 39% of likely Republican primary voters in New Hampshire compared to Haley’s 32%. The rest of the field lags far behind in the poll, with former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie at 12%, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy at 8%, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at 5% and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson at less than 1%.

Support for Haley has risen 12 percentage points since the last CNN/UNH poll in November, continuing an upward trajectory that began last summer, while her opponents — including Trump — have seen their numbers remain stable or tick slightly downward since autumn.

Haley’s support has grown dramatically among those voters reregistered as undeclared, New Hampshire’s term for independent registrants — she’s up 18 points with this group since November. It has also grown 20 points among those who are ideologically moderate. Those gains come amid push from her campaign in the state, including an endorsement last month from New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu. The Granite State’s GOP primary is January 23.

The strength of Haley’s challenge to Trump in the state speaks to the contours of New Hampshire’s primary electorate, in which those more moderate and less staunchly partisan voters make up a larger share of participants than they do in Iowa’s first-in-the-nation caucuses, which are happening next week. Trump has cross the 50% mark in most recent polling on the Iowa caucuses, and he holds wider majorities in national polls on the Republican nomination…

January 10, 2024: GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley called the argument from former President Trump’s attorney that the assassination of political rivals is protected by presidential immunity “ridiculous.” (The Hill)

Haley said at the CNN GOP presidential debate Wednesday the common sense needs to be considered when evaluating what is protected under presidential immunity and what is not.

“That’s ridiculous. That’s absolutely ridiculous. We need to use some common sense. You can’t go and kill a political rival and then claim immunity from a president,” she said.

Her criticism came after Trump attorney John Sauer argued before a panel of D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals judges that the president would be protected from prosecution if they ordered the SEAL Team Six to assassinate a political rival if the president were not impeached and removed by the Senate first.

“He would have to be impeached and convicted,” Sauer said Tuesday.

He was responding to a hypothetical question from a judge about the limits of presidential immunity. Trump’s legal team argued the former president should be shielded from prosecution in special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation because he is immune…

January 10, 2024: Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley hit Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis over the state of his campaign at the CNN Republican debate in Des Moines on Wednesday. (The Hill)

“The best way to tell about a candidate is to see how they run their campaign.” Haley said. “He has blown through 150 million dollars,” she added, referring to DeSantis. “I don’t even know how you do that.”

“He has nothing to show for it. He’s spent more money on private planes than he has on commercials trying to get Iowans to vote for him. If you can’t manage a campaign, how are you going to manage a country?” Haley said to applause.

Haley and DeSantis spent most of Wednesday’s debate hitting each other over policy and lobbing insults. In his opening remarks, DeSantis referred to Haley as a “mealy-mouthed politician.” DeSantis also painted Haley as a “corporatist” Republican, who is beholden to donors…

January 11, 2024: Nikki Haley faces the challenge of surpassing former President Trump in what has become a close contest in New Hampshire even with Chris Christie now out of the race. (The Hill)

Christie’s decision to drop out less than a week before the Iowa caucuses is the latest development to boost Haley as she looks to consolidate support after rising in the polls and putting up impressive fundraising totals.

But although Christie and Haley were likely competing for similar voters, the former New Jersey governor’s supporter may not all automatically get behind her, giving her work to do.

“We’re assuming there’s going to be a lot of overlap between these two constituencies, but of course, not every Christie voter is going to go for her, and of course, some Christie voters may break to other candidates,” said Ashley Koning, the director of Rutgers University’s Eagleton Center for Public Interest Polling…

…Haley is generally seen as one of the more moderate candidates in the race, suggesting those who backed Christie might migrate to her. Indeed, some polls have shown Christie supporters, who are largely looking to have the GOP move on from Trump, indicating they see Haley as their second choice.

An Emerson College poll released Thursday showed Trump leading Haley in New Hampshire, 44 percent to 28 percent, with Christie in third at 12 percent. Of Christie’s supporters, 52 percent listed Haley as their second choice, far more than any other candidate.

Haley has surged in the polls in recent months, and some surveys have shown her even competitive with Trump…

January 16, 2024: Trump’s former US ambassador to the United Nations and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley has framed herself as a younger, more moderate candidate than Trump, who can win in a general election. “Republicans have lost the popular vote in seven of the last eight presidential elections. That has to change,” Haley said in her announcement video. “It’s time for a new generation of leadership. (Vox)

The daughter of Indian immigrants, Haley is centering her pitch for the presidency on foreign policy and bridging the gap between MAGA and more traditional GOP politics…

…If Haley prevails, she would be the first woman and first Asian American to win the GOP nomination for president, adding to the list of firsts she has already achieved: South Carolina’s first woman governor and the first Indian American to serve in a statewide office there. She’s currently second or third, depending on the polling average consulted, but, like DeSantis, still regularly polls about 50 percentage points behind Trump…

January 20, 2024: Former President Trump easily won the Iowa caucuses last week and is leading nearly every New Hampshire poll gearing up to Tuesday’s primary, but in an arena filled with fired-up loyalists in the Granite State on Saturday, all he wanted to discuss was his GOP rival, Nikki Haley. (The Hill)…

…In recent days, Trump has been hurling insults at Haley, who has been steadily closing the gap in New Hampshire. In the past two months, she cut Trump’s lead in the state in by half. Trump has an 11 percent lead in the Granite State, according to The Hill and Decision Desk HQ’s polling average. Two months ago, he had a 22-point lead.

“Nikki Haley is using radical Democrat money to fund the radical Democrat campaign operation that she’s running,” Trump told supporters during the Saturday rally…

… “Almost every politician from the state of South Carolina is endorsing me,” Trump said as a slight to Haley, who is a former governor of the state. South Carolina is also next major contest after New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary.

In addition to the Palmetto State politicians on state, Trump also secured the endorsement of her home state’s senator, Tim Scott (R-S.C.), on Friday. Haley nominated Scott to the Senate when she was governor and lobbied for his endorsement when he dropped out of the 2024 GOP presidential race.

These attacks haven’t been one-sided. Haley has dropped her reluctance to criticize her former boss and has ramped up attacks on the former president in recent days..

February 1, 2024: GOP presidential primary candidate Nikki Haley threw some shade at rival former President Trump by way of a fake Halloween costume Thursday. (The Hill)

Haley posted to X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, a picture of a photoshopped packaging for a Halloween costume labeled as the “Weakest General Election Candidate Ever” and says it includes “$50M in legal fees,” “terrible poll numbers,” “social media rants” and “temper tantrums.” It also notes that it doesn’t include a “private jet” and “Diet Coke.”

“Democrats are ecstatic about the prospect of running against Donald Trump,” Haley wrote. “They couldn’t dream up a worse general election candidate if they tried. Between his legal drama, his terrible poll numbers, and his confusion, Trump will hand Democrats a big victory.”

A poll released Wednesday found that the former president would not get the votes of a majority of a majority of swing state voters if convicted of a crime; 53 percent of respondents in the Bloomberg/Morning Consult survey said they didn’t want to vote for Trump if he is convicted in one of his various criminal cases…

February 5, 2024: Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley’s top competition in Nevada’s state -run primary is a “none of these candidates” ballot option. (The Hill)

After tension over the presidential nominating system in the state, Nevada will hold both a primary and a Republican Party caucus this week.

Former President Trump, the GOP front-runner, is the only big name on Thursday’s caucus ballot, while Haley is the only top contender in Tuesday’s primary after other candidates, such as South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott and former Vice President Mike Pence, dropped out.

Nevada law doesn’t allow for write-in candidates, but it requires voters to be offered an option to pick “none of these candidates.”

That could be a problem for Haley if Trump supporters decide to cast a protest vote in the primary.

The dueling contests come after Nevada GOP opted to stick with its long-standing caucus system, despite a new state law calling for a presidential preference primary.

State law doesn’t prohibit registered Republicans from taking part the primary and the caucus, but the state party has said only the caucus counts when it comes to allocating delegates to the national party’s convention later this year…

…The state party’s site underscores that “candidates that choose to appear in the state-run primary ballot did so knowing that the decision meant they could not earn delegates by appearing on the caucus ballots,” noting Haley by name…

The Nevada GOP also barred candidates who opted for the primary from joining the caucus contest, meaning Haley and Trump can’t directly compete in the Silver State.

The Nevada confusion prompted Haley’s team to turn its focus to South Carolina, which hosts its GOP primary later this month. The former U.N. ambassador’s campaign on Monday knocked the Nevada setup as “rigged” for Trump…

February 6, 2024: Nikki Haley is projected to lose Nevada state-run Republican presidential preference primary, according to Decision Desk HQ’s analysis of election night results, a stunning development that comes despite former President Trump’s name not being on the ballot. (The Hill)

Voters were given a choice on the ballot to select a box that said “none of these candidates,” though they couldn’t write in a name. That option is projected to win.

The former South Carolina governor is projected to come in second.

No delegates were at stake in Tuesday’s primary. Trump’s name wasn’t on the ballot because he will instead be taking part in Nevada’s GOP-run caucus Thursday. The caucus will award all of the state’s 26 delegates to the winner, who is expected to be the former president.

Still, the fact that Haley lost is a major embarrassment for the candidate who has argued she is the better general election candidate to square off against President Biden, the likely Democratic nominee, but who has struggled to chip away at Trump’s support among the Republican base…

February 24, 2024: The primary race between former President Trump and former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley is growing increasingly personal as Haley remains defiant in her decision to stay in the race despite trailing Trump by double digits. (The Hill)

The changing tenor of the race was underscored this week when she choked up talking about her husband during an emotional speech in South Carolina — remarks that came days after Trump attacked her over her husband’s absence from the campaign trail.

Haley also stepped up her direct attacks against Trump in recent weeks, signaling a bitter new phase of the primary that comes as many GOP hope she will drop out so that the party can coalesce around Trump…

…On a press call on Friday, Haley’s campaign manager Betsy Ankney acknowledged that “the math is challenging.” But Ankney added that the contest is not only about who can win the party’s primary but about who can win in the general, something Haley has noted repeatedly on the campaign trail.

“Donald Trump will not win the general election,” Haley told CNN on Thursday. “You can have him win any primary you want — he will not win a general election. We will have a female president of the United States; it will either be me or it will be [Vice President] Harris.”…

February 24, 2024: Nikki Haley called comments Donald Trump made about Black people at an event Friday “disgusting” and proof Republicans would lose the presidential race if he’s the nominee. (NPR)

…Haley, speaking to reporters after casting her vote in the South Carolina primary Saturday near her home in Kiawah Island, S.C., said the comments are the latest example of a “huge warning sign” if he’s the GOP nominee.

“It’s disgusting, but that’s what happens when he goes off the teleprompter,” Haley said to reporters after voting in Kiawah Island. “That’s the chaise that comes with Donald Trump. That’s the offensiveness that’s going to happen every day between now and the general election, which is why I continue to say Donald Trump cannot win an election. He won’t.”

Haley’s message to voters is that Trump is a candidate of chaos that will only hurt the Republican Party come November…

February 25, 2024: Former President Donald Trump beat his remaining major challenger, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, in South Carolina’s Republican presidential primary Saturday, according to a race call from the Associated Press that came as polls closed statewide. (NPR)

Even though Trump won the statewide race, Haley won the counties with the two biggest cities, Columbia and Charleston. Haley, who was elected twice as governor of the state, currently owns a home in Charleston County. She also won Beaufort County home to Hilton Head. Haley was awarded three delegates in South Carolina and Trump, 47. That brings Haley’s total delegate count so far to 20. Trump has 110. The first candidate to win 1,215 delegates will win the Republican presidential nomination.

Trump has now won every contest where he was on the ballot. His win in South Carolina is not exactly a surprise, though. Trump was leading in the polls in Haley’s conservative home state throughout the entire race. The AP says that it based its race call on an analysis of a survey of primary voters that confirmed the findings of the pre-Election Day polling showing Trump far outpacing Haley…

…Haley told supporters that voters in many states will be weighing in during primary elections in the next few weeks and she will remain in the race until then

“They have the right to a real choice, not a Soviet-style election with only one candidate,” she said. “And I have a duty to give them that choice.”

Haley congratulated Trump on his win during an event in South Carolina Saturday evening.

“No matter the results, I love the people our our state,” she told her supporters.

Haley doubled down on comments made earlier this week that she would stay in the race no matter the results tonight. Her campaign is launching a “seven-figure” national ad buy ahead of Super Tuesday on March 5.

“There are huge numbers of voters in our Republican primaries who are saying they want an alternative,” she said. “I said earlier this week that no matter what happens in South Carolina, I would continue to run for president. I’m a woman of my word. I’m a woman of my word. I’m not giving up this fight when a majority of Americans disapprove both Donald Trump and Joe Biden.”…

…The loss is a major blow to Haley’s bid for the Republican nomination. Despite the significant money and time spent by the campaign in South Carolina, she was unable to garner enough support — including from leaders in the party. Trump remains very popular in the South and among more conservative voters in the U.S…

February 27, 2024: Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley issued her latest dire warning Tuesday about the prospect of former President Trump becoming the GOP presidential nominee, arguing it would be “suicide” for the United States. (The Hill)

Coming off of a series of disappointing primary losses to Trump, Haley told the Wall Street Journal she has “serious concerns” about the former president, when asked to reaffirm her commitment to support the GOP’s eventual nominee.

Pointing to the 91 criminal counts Trump faces across four cases, Haley told the Journal: “This may be his survival mode to pay his legal fees and get out of some sort of legal peril, but this is like suicide for our country.”

“We’ve got to realize that if we don’t have someone who can win a general election all we are doing is caving to the socialist left,” she said.

Despite ramping up her criticism of Trump in recent weeks, Haley has also said that President Biden is more dangerous than his predecessor.

Trump is also facing several civil legal penalties, including a whopping $350 million order in his New York civil fraud case, which he appealed Monday. He was also ordered to pay $83.3 million for defaming longtime writer E. Jean Carroll in 2019, after he was found liable in a previous case for sexually assaulting her in the mid-1990s.

Haley, a former United Nations ambassador under Trump warned earlier this month that Trump would use the Republican National Committee as his “piggy bank” to pay for his legal expenses.

Federal elections filings released last month showed Trump spent roughly $50 million on legal costs last year, $29 million of which was spent on lawyer fees and legal consulting in the final six months of the year. The spending was spread across multiple PACs/

In an interview last week, Haley argued Trump will be in the courtroom for a large portion of the coming months, rather than on the campaign trail and said “that is not how Republicans win.”

Haley has come under increasing pressure to leave the race after a string of losses to Trump in early states. Fox News’s Bill Hemmer asked Haley last week if she sees herself as “an insurance policy” for the Republican Party if Trump is convicted or found ineligible for office before November.

“Well, what I see myself is making sure that we as Republicans do everything we can to win,” Haley responded.

March 3, 2024: Days ahead of the Super Tuesday presidential primaries, former South Carolina governor and Republican candidate Nikki Haley said in an interview Sunday she will continue in the race for the GOP nomination as long as she remains competitive. (CNBC)

In an interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Haley said she is not looking “too far ahead” when asked if she would drop out of the race if she loses to frontrunner and former president Donald Trump on Super Tuesday.

“As long as we are competitive, as long as we are showing that there is a place for us, I’m going to continue to fight,” Haley said.

After primary losses in Iowa, South Carolina, and New Hampshire, Haley trails Trump in delegates with just 27 to his 247 so far. However, Haley said those primaries only partially represent who Americans will vote for on Super Tuesday. Fifteen states and one territory will vote in the primaries on Tuesday.

“You’ve only had three or four states that have voted up until now,” Haley said. “We’re a big country and we want everybody to fee like they had the opportunity vote for someone and not against someone.”

Several Trump-critical Republican senators have endorsed Haley, including Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski as her state heads to the polls Tuesday.

In an interview with NBC News Saturday, Murkowski said Haley is “a qualified, competent, capable leader at a time when the country needs them.”

Murkowski added she refuses “to accept that [Trump and Biden are] my only two choices.”

When asked if she would endorse a Trump nomination, Haley would not unequivocally say whether she is still bound by a Republican National Committee pledge to support the GOP nominee.

“No, I think I’ll make that what decision I want to make, but that’s not something I’m thinking about,” Haley said, adding that the pledge was made at the time “in order to get on the debate stage.”