Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley suggested Tuesday that she has no interest in becoming vice president amid speculation that she could join a Trump ticket.
When asked if she was ruling out the possibility, Mrs. Haley said she’s not interested. “It’s not even a conversation, and it doesn’t matter what candidate wants me to answer it, I don’t play for second,” she said.
But in the CBN interview, Mrs. Haley did not specifically rule out becoming former President Donald Trump’s running mate.
Her comments came after speculation has mounted over whether she would join a Trump ticket, as polls have shown the 45th president is the top GOP candidate nationwide by a large margin.
Lara Trump, the former president’s daughter-in-law, helped kindle speculation after she told Newsmax to “never say never” when asked if the President Trump would let Mrs. Haley fill the role. The former president also responded to a question about his former U.N. ambassador, saying that he has similar policy positions as she does.
However, some prominent Trump backers, including former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, pushed back on that notion. In a recent interview with podcaster Tim Pool, Mr. Carlson said that he would oppose a Trump–Haley ticket.
Mr. Carlson also recently dismissed suggestions that he could become President Trump’s running mate, saying that “God would have to yell at me very loud” in order for him to do so.
In New Hampshire, the super PAC, or political action committee, supporting the Trump 2024 campaign has launched a television ad targeting Mrs. Haley.
The ad, debuting Tuesday, marks the first such effort by either President Trump, who has dominated the Republican primary, or the groups supporting him to take Mrs. Haley on directly. The spot from Make America Great Again, Inc. argues that, as South Carolina governor, she flip-flopped over her support for a gas tax, showing clips of State of the State addresses in which she opposed, then called for, such a measure.
“New Hampshire can’t afford Nikki ‘High Tax’ Haley,” a narrator said in the ad.
Ahead of the ad’s release, Mrs. Haley pushed back its premise on social media, writing Tuesday in a post on X that the ad signified that “someone’s getting nervous.”
Over the weekend, President Trump told New Hampshire voters that they would “weed out the insincere RINOs ... Republicans in name only,” referring to his GOP rivals. The former president stated that allies-turned-opponents such as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Mrs. Haley “will betray you just like they betrayed me.”
The New Hampshire primary is Jan. 23, eight days after Iowa begins the nominating process on Jan. 15. Nevada and South Carolina come next in the early stages, before Super Tuesday on March 5, when the highest cumulative number of delegates are up for grabs on any single day on the election calendar. The Trump campaign sees a path for him to secure the nomination before the Super Tuesday polls open.
Notably, one of President Trump’s four criminal trials will start on March 4, 2024, a day before the Super Tuesday polls.
“What’s really important from our standpoint is being able to win the early states,” senior Trump campaign adviser Chris LaCivita told Right Side Broadcasting over the past weekend. “Winning Iowa, winning New Hampshire, winning Nevada, winning South Carolina—it’s over. That’s our goal.”
