Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley may look like a long shot for the nomination next to former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis: Together, the two men have the support of more than two-thirds of GOP primary voters. Now, as she tries to distinguish herself from the two frontrunners, Haley has increasingly been trying to carve out her own lane by leaning into culture wars.
In a CNN town hall Sunday night, Haley staked out a distinct approach to issues including Ukraine, the January 6, 2021 insurrection at the US Capitol, and federal benefits programs. And on the campaign trail recently, she’s started talking about her anti-abortion stance and embracing anti-trans rhetoric, seemingly moving away from her initial strategy of running as a moderate in a bid to meet Republican primary voters where they are right now.
“Nikki’s a professional chameleon. She is whatever she needs to be at that moment in time,” said Boyd Brown, a South Carolina Democratic strategist who previously served with Haley in the state legislature. “She’ll do whatever it takes to win an election, even if it’s selling out her true self, who might be a mainstream Republican.”
It’s still early in the 2024 campaign season, and Haley’s resume as Trump’s US ambassador to the United Nations and a former South Carolina governor gives her a weighty record to run on. Still, she has a lot of ground to make up: She’s polling at about 4 percent on average, in a distant third place behind Trump and DeSantis.
How Haley is contrasting herself with Trump and DeSantis
Like former Vice President Mike Pence, who entered the presidential race Monday, Haley is in the difficult position of having to distance herself from her former boss while refraining from alienating Republican voters who still overwhelmingly approve of him.
On Sunday, she did so by breaking with Trump on the Ukraine war, which he pledged to end within 24 hours of taking office if elected….
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