Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina and ambassador to the United Nations, five months after her first candidacy for the presidency, recognizes the position in which she finds herself.
Although she was the first Republican to announce a challenge to former President Donald J. Trump, she has not spent a single penny on television ads. it is far behind Mr. Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida and has at times struggled to make the case for his campaign.
But in an interview Friday at a picnic table outside a Veterans of Foreign Wars site in the small town of Lancaster, N.H., Ms. Haley downplayed concerns about her standing in the primary. It’s early in the race, he said, and many voters haven’t tuned into the campaigns yet.
“I see myself as one goal after another; I don’t look at the end,” he said. “I know by mid-fall, this will be totally different. Once you get past Labor Day, the numbers start to change. And that’s why you can watch the story. That’s not me just the hope, it’s me that knows.”
As he toured small towns in New Hampshire’s hilly North Country region last week, he tacitly acknowledged the uphill race, while recounting his story of overcoming long political odds to win the South Carolina governorship in 2010, turning – the first woman to serve as governor of the state and the second governor of Indian descent.
During her appearances, Ms. Haley also mixed in subtle digs at her main rivals.
“I didn’t go to an Ivy League school like the guys who are in this race,” he told voters Thursday at a North Conway community center. “I went to a public university.” She said, “I’m not a lawyer. Accountants are problem solvers.”
Ms. Haley’s most recent shift in New Hampshire, which is holding the party’s first primary, was billed by her campaign as a grassroots trip aimed at introducing her to voters in that part of the state. as a former state executive. with roots in the rural South, rather than an establishment figure with ties to Washington.
Frank Murphy, 54, who moved to northern New Hampshire from South Carolina in 2016, knows Ms. Haley as his former governor. When he introduced himself to voters packed into the Lancaster VFW site, he raised his hand in the first few minutes of his speech to say he was from Charleston.
“I saw firsthand what she did to help the economy down there,” he said, adding that he was happy to see her run for president. “To come to a small town meeting like this and talk to people and get them engaged and talking and asking questions? This is what you want from a politician”, he said.
The challenge for Ms. Haley is that her credentials may be more of a liability than an asset in a Republican primary that appears to be more personality-driven than policy, with much attention focused on Mr. Trump and the focus of Mr. DeSantis in social and cultural matters.
In small events and meetings, Mrs. Haley talked about her family and personal background as much as about the economy and foreign policy.
He complimented the landscape of the North Country, adding that its close-knit communities reminded him of his hometown of Bamberg, SC. His upbringing as a member of the town’s only American Indian family: “We weren’t white enough to be white, we weren’t black enough to be black,” he said, taught him to look hard for the similarities he shared with others
Speaking to voters at the VFW outpost in Lancaster on Friday, he mocked the Southern accents he often hears in South Carolina and tried a New England twang, asking those present if saying “Lan-cah-stah” the did. local sound
“Someone said I sounded like I was from Boston,” he admitted, with sympathetic laughs.
Ms. Haley has focused heavily on New Hampshire. By the end of this week he will have made 39 stops in the Granite State, far outpacing most of the Republican field. She is one of the few 2024 Republican candidates, along with Vivek Ramaswamy, to visit counties in the state’s North Country region, which is less than 200 miles from the Canadian border and has wooded, winding roads that they extend through the mountain range of the White Mountain.
His campaign says it is pinning its hopes on a growing network of supporters and volunteers in the far reaches of the state, rather than spending money on radio or television ads, a long-standing tradition of cheering and retail policy
The strategy still needs to build a lot of momentum. Most New Hampshire primary polls show her in fourth place, behind Mr. Trump, Mr. DeSantis and former Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey, who has also spent a significant amount of time in the state.
Ms. Haley’s supporters have expressed frustration and confusion over their preferred candidate, whose past roles as U.N. ambassador and governor prompted an event moderator to ask a crowd on Thursday to decide to applause which title should use to present it, has barely reached 4. percent in most national public surveys.
“We don’t get it because she’s doing so well,” said Beverly Schofield, an 84-year-old Republican voter wearing red, white and blue, who drove from Vermont with her daughter to see Ms. Haley in New Hampshire . Friday. “It’s very impressive that she’s doing as well as she is. But I’d like to see her climb that ladder quickly.”
Ms. Haley’s position reflects the challenges of campaigning in this particular primary more than her political skills, her supporters say. The Republican field has swelled to a dozen candidates, cracking the anti-Trump vote, while his recent and future accusations appear to have only moved the former president closer to capturing the nomination. Supporters of Ms. Haley wonders how the campaign intends to turn things around
“That’s the question I wanted to ask her,” said Ted Kramer, 81, a retired marketing executive who attended Ms. Haley’s town hall in North Conway. “He needs to raise his profile.”
Ms. Haley pointed to past Republican front-runners who have since faded, such as Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas and former Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin. The race so far has largely been painted as a two-man race between Mr. Trump and Mr. DeSantis, said Ms. Haley, but voters are likely to be aggravated with one.
“I know the reality of how quickly someone can rise and how quickly they can fall,” he said. “Today’s shiny object is not tomorrow’s shiny object. So it’s about not peaking too soon.”
He added: “I’m very realistic about what the benchmarks are and what we have to overcome.”
Those markers include securing the necessary number of donors and funds to make the debate stage in August, which he has done. She also said she would continue to focus on Iowa and New Hampshire while building the base she has in South Carolina, another early state, where she and Sen. Tim Scott, who represents the state, aim to tap into voter bases and networks of similar donors. . The two have not spoken since he launched his campaign, he said.
Ms Haley also admitted to feeling undervalued in the race. He is often included in conversations about running for vice president, although he has said emphatically that he is not eyeing the position. She also said many, especially in the media, failed to recognize “the street cred that I have,” listing the political victories and crises averted during her tenure as governor of South Carolina and ambassador to the Nations united “I mean, they weren’t small jobs,” he said.
Republicans longing for an alternative to Mr. Trump made up a large part of the crowds at Ms. Haley’s events, along with moderate Republicans and independent voters. Few who attended Ms. Haley’s events this week said they were fully committed to supporting her, and many said they wanted to test the political waters, a campaign signature in New Hampshire, where most of primary voters can expect to hear from each candidate in person. , usually more than once.
Ms. Haley, eager to sway some of those on the fence, made political points about the strain and blasted Democrats on race, education and the inclusion of transgender athletes. He criticized both Democrats and Republicans for their handling of Covid-19 and castigated Congress, asking voters if they could point to anything their representatives in Washington had done for them.
He also drew on his foreign policy background, saying the biggest threat to the United States is China and repeatedly criticized the Biden administration for its approach, folding in terse words for Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen , who is visiting the country this week.
Joanne Archambault, an independent voter who lives near North Conway, said she liked Ms. Haley’s message and saw her as an authoritative speaker on policy issues. Still, he said Ms. Haley’s foreign policy talk distracted from domestic priorities.
“I think there’s too much focus on things overseas, too much talk about the border and China,” he said. “Let’s talk about the issues that we’re facing, you know, gun violence, abortion, let’s talk about those things. Let’s focus on this country and not what other countries are doing.”
