Haley doesn’t take bait from Ramaswamy: ‘Not worth my time’

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.

“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 corruption problem” and held up a pad of paper with “NIKKI = CORRUPT” written 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.”

The debate, which was hosted by The Hill’s sister news organization NewsNation, was hosted by Johnson, NewsNation anchor Elizabeth Vargas and former Fox News host Megyn Kelly.

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

Haley has seen boosts 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.