Why Nikki Haley faces uphill battle in South Carolina: ‘Lot of bad blood’
Nikki Haley is no darling of South Carolina politics.
Despite her substantial record of public service in the Palmetto State — six years as a state legislator, followed by six years as governor — the 52-year-old is staring down a blowout loss to Donald Trump in next month’s primary.
The limited polling of South Carolina shows Haley about 30 points behind Trump, 77, according to RealClearPolitics
In addition, the former president has secured the backing of more than 150 current and former state elected officials — including the governor, lieutenant governor and both Republican senators.
Haley has argued she doesn’t need the endorsements of the “political elite” and claims that she’s unpopular with South Carolina electeds because she held them accountable as governor.
With a loss in Haley’s home state likely to kill any chance of her being the Republican nominee, the question remains: Where did it all go so horribly wrong?
‘Moderate at best’
Politics is about relationships, and South Carolina is no exception.
The problem facing Haley is that whatever relationships she had in Columbia, the state capital, are almost unsalvageable, South Carolina GOP operatives tell The Post.
One of the accomplishments Haley talks most about on the campaign trail is one of the first laws she enacted as governor back in 2011, which required roll call votes on most pieces of legislation rather than unrecorded voice votes.
At the time, the move toward transparency was in keeping with Haley’s Tea Party-influenced persona of an outsider demanding legislative accountability.
“I pushed back on them when I was governor. I forced them to show their votes on the record, [so] that they weren’t hiding by voice votes,” Haley exulted at a campaign stop in Epping, New Hampshire, this past weekend. “I forced them to pass ethics reform that they didn’t want to do.”
In retrospect, two state officials backing Haley say, her championing the recorded vote law was the origin of her current unpopularity.
State Rep. Nathan Ballentine, who served in the state legislature with Haley, recalled that when the recorded vote bill came up for a vote during the 2010 gubernatorial campaign, her “biggest enemies” asked for the tally to be scheduled when she would be away from the capital and out on the campaign trail.
“That was where the whole animosity started,” he contends.
State Sen. Josh Kimbrell — who was the first South Carolina official to back Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and has now switched his support to Trump — disagrees, arguing that Haley’s lack of support among the South Carolina GOP establishment is strictly due to her policy record.
“Haley ran [in 2010] as a strong conservative on a range of subjects, from school choice to cutting taxes, to a whole range of government reforms. But none of that ever materialized,” Kimbrell argued, saying she
“runs on one thing” but then rules as a “moderate at best.”
“There’s a lot of bad blood there,” he added. “Overwhelmingly, the vast majority of elected officials here would not support her.”
Another Haley backer, state Sen. Tom Davis, said the former governor has a chance to come full circle and reclaim her status as the ultimate outsider.
“South Carolinians have an innate suspicion of insiders” and agreements “being made in back rooms,” he said.
Another, uglier factor is the rough-and-tumble nature of South Carolina politics, where “everything but the kitchen sink” can and will be thrown at Haley — including her background as the daughter of Indian immigrants.
There is precedent for such behavior. Ahead of the 2000 GOP primary, voters received push poll calls suggesting that then-Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) had “fathered an illegitimate black child” — suggesting McCain’s adopted daughter from Bangladesh was actually the product of an extramarital liaison.
“South Carolina politics has a history of being very sharp-elbowed. A lot of things at the margins of acceptability being advanced,” Davis said.
“South Carolina has a reputation for that kind of politics and it wouldn’t be surprising to me if the kitchen sink is going to be thrown at her for the next 30 days.”
Long time gone
Seven years is a long time in politics and the former governor, who resigned in January 2017 to accept the job of Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations, will have to remind voters of her gubernatorial record in the next month.
“The short-term memory that the average voter has will not remember everything that Nikki Haley did” as governor, South Carolina-based GOP strategist Dave Wilson told The Post.
“That’s going to be her challenge,” Davis agreed. “She’s going to come here and have 30 days to do it.”
The Haley campaign has jumped on the challenge, releasing ads this week reminding South Carolina voters of her story.
“Nikki Haley took on the political elites when she ran for governor of South Carolina, and she’s ready to do the same thing again,” said Haley national spokesperson Olivia Perez-Cubas. “South Carolina voters elected Nikki twice thanks to her conservative record of creating jobs, cutting taxes, and combating illegal immigration. They know that Nikki will always fight for them — not the DC establishment.”
Trump’s stronghold
Trump has played up his support from South Carolina elected officials every chance he gets, inviting them on stage at his New Hampshire rallies and rubbing their presence in Haley’s face.
The former president was joined by South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster, Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette, South Carolina AG Alan Wilson, state House Speaker Murrell Smith, state Treasurer Curtis Loftis, and Reps. Joe Wilson, William Timmons and Russell Fry.
At Trump’s victory party in Nashua, former presidential candidate Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), whom Haley appointed to the Senate in 2012, stood directly behind Trump on stage.
“Did you ever think [about how] she actually appointed you, Tim? … And you’re the senator of her state,” Trump said. “You must really hate her.”
Scott responded by walking up to the microphone and looking Trump in the eye.
“I just love you,” the senator intoned.
“Part of politics, especially Southern politics, is relationship-based,” Wilson said. “Now, those relationships, or the lack thereof, are now paying their own dividends.”
Haley supporter Ballentine, however, downplayed the effect of the dozens of Trump endorsements.
“Would you rather have more? Probably, depends who they’re from,” he said. “There are a lot of ass-kissers that are afraid of Trump who are endorsing him because they don’t want a primary opponent. Behind closed doors, some of his endorsements aren’t even voting for the guy.”
