South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley is not concerned about her lack of a voter base. While it has been used as a talking point against her, Haley shrugged it off in an interview with The Free Press’ Joe Nocera, stating that she does not want “a certain type of person” but wants everybody.
“I want everybody. That’s the only way we’re going to heal our country. That’s my whole thing,” she stated.
She then slammed criticism of her for having independent voters, saying, “I know they’re saying, you know, ‘She’s getting independents to vote for her.’ You have to want everybody. It doesn’t change who I am. It doesn’t change the solutions I think we need going forward. But it does mean that I’m going to treat everybody with respect.”
“I’m going to let them know what I’m about, what I want to do, and how I want to do it. I’m not going to push people away. I’m going to bring people in.That’s what I did in South Carolina. You’re supposed to work on lifting up everybody, not just a select few,” she added.
The race for the Republican Party’s 2024 presidential nomination is now a two-person race between Haley and former President Donald Trump after Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis dropped out on Sunday.
The development seemed to delight Haley who, speaking to a large crowd in New Hampshire, said, “Can you hear that sound? That’s the sound of a two-person race.”
Haley has always yearned for a two-person race, as she said after finishing third in the Iowa caucuses last Monday that she had made the primary a two-person race.
Speaking to supporters at her post-caucus event, she said, “When you look at how we’re doing in New Hampshire, in South Carolina, and beyond, I can safely say tonight Iowa made this Republican primary a two-person race.”
At the caucuses, Haley had 19% of the votes counted while DeSantis got 21.3% and Trump won 51% of the votes.
Former President Donald Trump emerged victorious in the 2024 Iowa caucuses, with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley trailing behind. @CBSNews @costareports has a look at the results and what it means heading into next week's primary in New Hampshire pic.twitter.com/byYf432oR7
— CBS Evening News (@CBSEveningNews) January 16, 2024
When pressed about her two-person race remarks despite her getting third position in the Iowa caucuses, she told Fox News, “First of all, look at where we started: I mean, when we started, there were 14 people in the race. We had 2 percent in the polls. We came out with a strong showing. That’s what we wanted in Iowa.”
Going into the New Hampshire primary, the former U.N. ambassador is confident that she will garner great support as she has put a lot of time and resources into the state over the past few months.