Nikki Haley is not the favorite of South Carolina politics.
Despite her significant record of public service in the Palmetto State (six years as a state legislator, followed by six years as governor), the 52-year-old faces a crushing loss to Donald Trump in next month’s primary.
Limited South Carolina polling shows Haley about 30 points behind Trump, 77, according to RealClearPolitics
Additionally, the former president has secured the endorsements of more than 150 current and former state elected officials, including the governor, lieutenant governor and both Republican senators.
Haley has argued that he does not need the support of the “political elite” and claims that he is unpopular with South Carolina’s elected officials because he held them accountable as governor.
With a loss in Haley’s home state likely to end any chance of her being the Republican nominee, the question remains: Where did it all go so horribly wrong?
Nikki Haley speaks to supporters at the Grappone Conference Center on primary election day in Concord, New Hampshire. CJ GUNTHER/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
“Moderate at best”
Politics is about relationships and South Carolina is no exception.
The problem Haley faces is that whatever relationships she had in Columbia, the state capital, are nearly unsalvageable, South Carolina Republican operatives told The Post.
One of the accomplishments Haley talks about most on the campaign trail is one of the first laws she signed as governor in 2011, which required roll-call votes on most laws instead of unrecorded voice votes.
At the time, the movement toward transparency was in keeping with Haley’s Tea Party-influenced persona as an outsider demanding legislative accountability.
“I rejected them when I was governor. I forced them to record their votes, [so] that they weren’t hiding by voice votes,” Haley exulted at a campaign event in Epping, New Hampshire, last weekend. “I forced them to pass ethics reform that they didn’t want to do.”
In retrospect, two state officials who support Haley say her defense of the registered voting law was the source of her current unpopularity.
State Rep. Nathan Ballentine, who served in the state legislature with Haley, recalled that when the recorded voting bill came up for a vote during the 2010 gubernatorial campaign, her “biggest enemies” asked that the recount be scheduled when she would be absent. from the capital to the electoral campaign.
“That’s where all the animosity started,” he maintains.
State Sen. Josh Kimbrell, who was the first South Carolina official to endorse Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and has now shifted his support to Trump, disagrees, arguing that Haley’s lack of support among the establishment Republican from South Carolina is strictly due to his political record. .
“Haley ran [in 2010] as a strong conservative on a variety of issues, from school choice to tax cuts to a whole host of government reforms. But none of that came to fruition,” Kimbrell argued, saying she “stands on one thing” but then governs as “moderate at best.”
“There’s a lot of bad blood there,” he added. “Overwhelmingly, the vast majority of elected officials here would not support it.”
Another Haley supporter, state Sen. Tom Davis, said the former governor has a chance to come full circle and reclaim her status as the ultimate outsider.
“South Carolinians have an innate suspicion of insiders” and deals “that are made in back rooms,” he said.
Another uglier factor is the hectic nature of South Carolina politics, where “everything but the kitchen sink” can and will be thrown at Haley, including her background as the daughter of Indian immigrants.
There is precedent for such behavior. Before the 2000 Republican primary, voters received poll calls suggesting then-Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) had “fathered an illegitimate black son,” suggesting that McCain’s adopted daughter from Bangladesh was actually the product of an extramarital affair.
“South Carolina politics has a history of being very tough. Many things are being advanced that are on the margins of acceptability,” Davis said.
“South Carolina has a reputation for doing that kind of politics and I wouldn’t be surprised if they throw the kitchen sink at it over the next 30 days.”
Nikki Haley speaks at her election night party after former President Donald Trump was declared the winner, in Concord, New Hampshire. Amanda Sabga/UPI/Shutterstock
long gone
Seven years is a long time in politics, and the former governor, who resigned in January 2017 to accept the post as Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations, will have to remind voters of her record as governor next month.
“The average voter’s short-term memory is not going to remember everything Nikki Haley did” as governor, South Carolina-based Republican strategist Dave Wilson told The Post.
“That will be his challenge,” Davis agreed. “She will come here and she will have 30 days to do it.”
Haley’s campaign rose to the challenge and launched ads this week to remind South Carolina voters of her story.
“Nikki Haley took on the political elites when she ran for governor of South Carolina and she’s ready to do the same again,” said Haley’s national spokesperson Olivia Pérez-Cubas. “South Carolina voters elected Nikki twice because of her conservative record of creating jobs, cutting taxes and fighting illegal immigration. They know that Nikki will always fight for them, not for the DC establishment.”
Trump’s stronghold
Trump has taken advantage of the support of South Carolina elected officials whenever he can, inviting them on stage at his rallies in New Hampshire and rubbing their presence in Haley’s face.
The former president was joined by South Carolina Governor Henry McMaster, Lieutenant Governor Pamela Evette, South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson, State House Speaker Murrell Smith, State Treasurer Curtis Loftis, and Representatives Joe Wilson, William Timmons and Russell Fry.
Donald Trump speaks as Senator Tim Scott (R-SC) listens at a primary election night party in Nashua, NH. AP
At Trump’s victory party in Nashua, former presidential candidate Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), whom Haley appointed to the Senate in 2012, stood directly behind Trump on stage.
“Have you ever thought [about how] Did she really name you, Tim? …And you are the senator from her state,” Trump said. “You must really hate her.”
Scott responded by walking up to the microphone and looking Trump in the eyes.
“I simply love you,” the senator intoned.
“Some of politics, especially Southern politics, is based on relationships,” Wilson said. “Now, those relationships, or lack thereof, are paying their own dividends.”
Ballentine, a Haley supporter, however, downplayed the effect of Trump’s dozens of endorsements.
“Would you rather have more? It probably depends on who they are,” she said. “There are a lot of asslickers who fear Trump and support him because they don’t want a primary opponent. Behind closed doors, some of his supporters don’t even vote for the guy.”
Categories: Trending
Source: vtt.edu.vn