Nikki Haley Pushes For Second-Place Finish In Iowa Ahead Of New Hampshire A Week Later

DAVENPORT, Iowa – With a second-place end in Republicans’ first presidential contest of 2024 in sight, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley on Saturday evening implored a crowd of supporters to courageous subzero temperatures Monday and “set the tone” for the remainder of America.

“You know you set the tone for where the rest of the country needs to go. You know what you need to do, and I know that you’ll do it,” she mentioned.

Haley has been climbing in polls for weeks, and lately was simply a number of factors behind former President Donald Trump in New Hampshire, which holds its major eight days after Iowa’s caucuses. And Saturday evening, the revered Des Moines Register ballot confirmed that Haley had moved forward of Florida Gov. Rom DeSantis in Iowa, with Trump slipping barely however nonetheless with a big lead.

Haley supporters mentioned they hoped a stronger than anticipated end Monday – DeSantis had been forward of Haley in Iowa for many of final 12 months – might result in outright wins in New Hampshire and past.

“I think a strong second would be a very good result for her,” mentioned Chris Cournoyer, an Iowa state senator who launched Haley Saturday. “And I think we’re going to surprise some people on caucus night because I have so many independents and Democrats that have told me that they’re going to caucus for her Monday night.”

Despite near-zero temperatures, a frigid wind and lots of smaller roads nonetheless lined with snow from Friday’s blizzard, Haley was in a position to pull some 100 attendees into the Thunder Bay Grille simply south of Interstate 80. She delivered her now-familiar stump speech for about 25 minutes – incorporating most of the strains she has utilized in televised debates – after which spent one other 25 minutes posing for photographs and speaking to voters individually.

James Mercer, a semi-retired 76-year-old automotive vendor and two-time Trump voter, mentioned he’s satisfied that Haley is the one Republican nonetheless operating who can truly defeat Democratic President Joe Biden in November. “Because she’s going to resonate with women,” he mentioned. “And I want someone who’s going to win.”

Haley was amongst all however two of the eight Republican hopefuls on the primary debate stage 5 months in the past who mentioned they’d nonetheless help Trump because the nominee even when he have been a convicted felon by then from a number of of the 4 legal prosecutions he’s dealing with. This week, although, she took a brand new tack relating to her former boss.

At a one-on-one debate in opposition to DeSantis sponsored by CNN, Haley mentioned that, regardless of Trump’s claims, Jan. 6, 2021, was a “terrible” day and Trump would now have “to answer for it.”

That method might flip off voters who consider Trump did nothing unsuitable, however has received over others, together with Tiffany Lensch, a banker from close by Bettendorf, who mentioned Trump’s habits main as much as and on Jan. 6 was the final straw for her. “I think that was the breaking point for me,” she mentioned. “I’m not a fan of Trump.”

Lensch mentioned she had seen Haley in individual beforehand when she visited Bettendorf and was impressed sufficient to come back out regardless of the depressing climate to listen to her once more. “I really like her message,” she mentioned.

Haley started her marketing campaign final February, turning into the primary main candidate to declare after Trump, who jumped into the race simply weeks after the election-denying candidates he pushed within the 2022 midterms all flopped.

But she languished within the low single digits in polling for a lot of the spring and summer time, resulting in hypothesis her marketing campaign would run out of cash earlier than the tip of the 12 months. Her fortunes, although, started bettering with sturdy performances within the Republican National Committee’s sequence of debates that started in August.

And as DeSantis’s ballot numbers started to fall, she started to win over influential donors who had initially backed him as the very best potential challenger in opposition to Trump.

HuffPost reporter Liz Skalka contributed.