Nikki Haley Makes Pitch to Iowans as Most Electable Candidate

Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley campaigns in Nevada, Iowa, on Monday, Dec. 18, 2023. (Austin Alonzo/The Epoch Times)

NEVADA, Iowa—Nikki Haley wants Republican voters to believe she will do better than any other contender in an eventual general election contest against President Joe Biden.

On Dec. 18, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations spoke to a crowd of about 50 at the Nevada Fairgrounds Community Building in Nevada, Iowa, highlighting recent polls showing that only she could defeat the incumbent soundly in November 2024.

A Republican White House?

Ms. Haley, in three recent Iowa polls, trails both former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the state.

The latest polling, published on Dec. 17 by CBS News, reiterated that she’s in third place with 13 percent of Iowans’ support. President Trump and Mr. DeSantis lead the former South Carolina governor with 58 percent and 22 percent of likely voters support, respectively, according to the CBS and YouGov poll.

However, Ms. Haley touted other recent polling showing she would do better against President Biden in a general election than any other candidate.

One poll published by Fox News on Dec. 17 showed that Mr. DeSantis and President Biden in a head-to-head matchup would each draw 47 percent support. Another Fox poll, also published Dec. 17, showed Ms. Haley would beat President Biden 49 percent to 43 percent if she were the GOP candidate.

Meanwhile, in polls published by Harvard University and HarrisX on Dec. 15, President Trump would defeat President Biden 52 percent to 48 percent, with a more convincing victory in a hypothetical three-way matchup that included independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. According to those results, 44 percent would vote for President Trump, 36 percent for President Biden, and 20 percent for Mr. Kennedy.

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“That’s not just about the presidency. That’s about winning the House. That’s about winning the Senate. That’s about winning school board seats. That’s top to bottom,” Ms. Haley said about her chances in November. “That’s a mandate going into Washington.”

Former South Carolina Gov. and former U.N ambassador Nikki Haley embraces a supporter at a campaign event in Nevada, Iowa, on Dec. 18, 2023. (Austin Alonzo/The Epoch Times)

Support Allies

In a speech that painted both a hopeful and horrifying picture for America and the world, Ms. Haley repeatedly said both the world and the country are “on fire,” and that only she can put it out.

Ms. Haley pointed to her foreign policy experience, saying she is the only candidate in the field who fully understands the threats posed by the “unholy alliance” of China, Russia, and Iran.

That alliance, she argued, was accelerated by the United States’ calamitous withdrawal from Afghanistan in February 2020, which discouraged friends and encouraged enemies abroad.

If Ukraine falls, Ms. Haley said, based on her experience in the U.N., then Russia will march toward former Soviet satellite states such as Poland as well as the Baltic states. If Russia prevails, she said, it will be a green light for China to invade Taiwan, a long-held ambition of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

Those three countries, she said, are working in concert to undermine the United States. They want America to have a weak military presence abroad and an unending reliance on foreign oil. Moreover, Congress wants Americans to believe the country can only support Ukraine, back Israel, or secure the border.

“Don’t let them lie to you like that. That’s wrong,” Ms. Haley said. “That’s a false premise.”

The war in Ukraine, she said, is exhausting Russia and its leader, President Vladimir Putin. Ms. Haley said Mr. Putin has “hit rock bottom,” the Russian military is decimated, and Ukraine wants material aid to finish the fight. However, Russia is getting relief in arms and equipment from Iran and North Korea.

If Ukraine falls, Ms. Haley said, based on her experience in the U.N., then Russia will march eastward toward former Soviet satellite states such as Poland as well as the Baltic states. If Russia prevails, she said, it will be a green light for China to invade Taiwan, a long-held ambition of the CCP.

If those scenarios play out the way she projects, then the United States will find itself involved in a global war.

“My opponents will sit there and say, ‘She’s a warmonger,’” Ms. Haley said. “No. I’m preventing war.”

The events of Oct. 7, 2023, are linked to this scenario, too. Ms. Haley noted Oct. 7 is Mr. Putin’s birthday, and Russia, as well as Iran, are backing Hamas in its ongoing war against Israel. Ms. Haley called Israel the tip of the spear in the fight against Islamic terrorism and a “bright spot in a tough neighborhood.”

“It has never been that Israel needs America,” Ms. Haley said. “It has always been that America needs Israel, and God help us if we don’t get this right.”

Along with supporting both Ukraine and Israel’s military efforts, Ms. Haley promised she would take the fight to China on the economic and electronic fronts. She said she would revoke any land purchases by China and repossess the land; tell American universities to refuse to take money from Chinese sources; and end all normal trade relations“ with China until the regime stops ”murdering Americans with fentanyl.”

Nikki Haley, a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, makes her case at a town hall event in Nevada, Iowa, on Dec. 18, 2023. (Austin Alonzo/The Epoch Times)

Restore Hope in America

As for the home front, Ms. Haley painted a bleak picture of a country where people are struggling to make ends meet, saddled with a failing education system, porous borders, and a distant and geriatric leadership class in Washington. Opinion polls, she said, show people think America’s best days are behind it.

Ms. Haley said she wishes she could blame the Democratic Party and President Biden for the situation, but she said Republicans are just as guilty because they embrace earmark spending on “pet projects” in lieu of good governance in line with their purported conservative principles.

If elected, Ms. Haley said she would push for term limits and mental competency tests for members of Congress. She called the Senate “the most privileged nursing home in the country.”

Moreover, she will go after those who committed fraud with COVID-19 relief funds. She said she would make a balanced budget mandatory for Washington. She said she would stop the endless borrowing and earmarks in Congress and save “trillions” in spending.

Ms. Haley vowed to shrink the size of the government, send government offices out of Washington and to the states, and make the temporary middle-class and small-business tax cuts permanent.

Ms. Haley promised to restore the education system by depoliticizing education, giving parents more control over what their kids learn in school, and getting vocational classes back in public schools.

Finally, she said she would fortify the country’s southern border by putting 25,000 new U.S. Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers on the ground. Illegal immigrants seeking entry to the United States would be told to remain in Mexico, and those who were caught would be deported.

Making Her Case

In an interview, Nevada Mayor Brett Barker, a Republican who introduced Ms. Haley to the crowd, said he supports her because he thinks she will grow the appeal of the party down the ballot.

As for Ms. Haley’s current spot in the polls, Mr. Barker said Iowans all over the Hawkeye State are doing what they did in Nevada on Monday morning: vetting candidates and making their final decision.

“The caucus notoriously breaks late here in the final month down the stretch,” Mr. Barker said. “The more people hear from her, the more they like her.”

Kent York, of Urbandale, Iowa, said he decided to support Ms. Haley at his local caucus after hearing her remarks on Dec. 18. Mr. York, who came to the event along with his daughter, who already supported Ms. Haley, said he “really liked the message.”

“I liked what she had to say,” Mr. York told The Epoch Times. “Maybe, more importantly, I liked the way she said it.”

The Republican Party of Iowa’s caucuses will be held on Jan. 15, 2024.