At her campaign launch event in Charleston, South Carolina on Wednesday, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley’s early messaging came into clearer focus as she seeks to differentiate herself from former President Trump and other potential challengers for the Republican presidential nomination.
Here were some prominent themes:
A “new generation”: Haley said we’re “ready to move past the stale ideas and faded names of the past” and called for “mental competency tests” for politicians over 75 (which would apply to Biden and Trump, should the latter hold office again). Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R), a potential candidate, is 72. Haley is 51.
Several other potential candidates, like former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, are currently under 60. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu are in their 40s.
Daughter of Indian immigrants: As in her campaign launch video, Haley discussed race in America in the context of her background as the daughter of Indian immigrants. She said messages that America is racist and full of hate are creating “self-loathing” that is “eating away at our national core. … It’s in the classroom, the boardroom and the backrooms of government. … Take it from me, the first minority female governor in history, America is not a racist country.”
Haley is the first prominent Asian American female candidate for the GOP presidential nomination (and one of five prominent female GOP candidates in history).
Eschewing establishment and moderate lanes: Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), one of the Republicans who didn’t support Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) for House Speaker in several rounds of voting, introduced Haley at the event. Norman said, “You know who would have been right along with me had she been in Congress? Nikki Haley.”
Haley said after taking the stage, “Ralph Norman, you know I would have been right there with you in Congress holding them accountable.”
Haley’s policy priority list touched on various points of the GOP spectrum, including ending “earmarks and pork” – a Freedom Caucus priority – and instituting congressional term limits – a priority for Norman, a member of the Freedom Caucus.
On national unity, Haley said it “does not come from faint hearts or watered-down compromises,” but from “boldly proclaiming our national purpose and persuading opponents to join us.”
Range of experience: Haley highlighted both her history of winning elections and experience as a former state legislator, governor and administration official with a foreign policy focus: “When I ran against the longest-serving legislator in the state, no one said I had a shot. … When I ran for governor, people said, ‘Nikki who?’ … [W]hen President Trump nominated me for ambassador to the United Nations, people said I didn’t have the experience. Then I went to work.”
We can expect Haley to tout this range in a primary that could see current and former governors, a former secretary of state and a former vice president, among others.
A woman in the field: Haley said, “Realizing this vision won’t be easy … It will require doing something we’ve never done – like sending a tough-as-nails woman to the White House.” Though after saying, “May the best woman win,” she added, “This is not about identity politics. I don’t believe in that. And I don’t believe in glass ceilings either.”
Norman called Haley the American version of Britain’s Margaret Thatcher, the first female prime minister in European history, saying she would lead “with an iron fist and a velvet glove.”
