Haley Tells Newsmax: Tim Scott’s Snub Not a Worry

Nikki Haley, who as governor of South Carolina appointed Sen. Tim Scott to the Senate in 2012, is not concerned about him choosing to endorse former President Donald Trump over her for the GOP presidential nomination, Olivia Perez, a spokesperson for Haley’s campaign, insisted on Newsmax Saturday. 

“Nikki is focused on real endorsements and real support from actual voters,” Perez said on Newsmax’s “Saturday Report.”

“She’s not focused on endorsements from Washington insiders, and it’s kind of funny and ironic if you think about it, because you have Donald Trump, who is trying to drain the swamp, but he’s touting all of these Washington endorsements, so we’re not focused on that.”

Scott, R-S.C., endorsed Trump Friday, even though he’d said when he dropped his own race for the nomination that he would not be endorsing another candidate. 

The senator made his endorsement of Trump during a speech in New Hampshire, the next primary voting state, saying that the former president, if reelected to the White House, would lower taxes while uniting the country. 

“I think ultimately what it shows is that Nikki is the real outsider,” Perez told Newsmax. ‘[She] is the real anti-establishment candidate. She was elected to governor of South Carolina as a Tea Party candidate who bucked the system and put people’s feet to the fire. That’s exactly the kind of leader that we need in the White House.”

Meanwhile, voters in New Hampshire are excited about Haley, Perez said. 

“People are excited about the opportunity to elect a new generation of conservative leadership,” she commented. “She’s been having the momentum. She is on the rise. She had a strong showing [in Iowa] and now we’re in New Hampshire and we’re going to build off of that momentum.”

Perez added that Haley is “in striking distance” of Trump and plans to carry the momentum from a strong showing in Iowa to her home state of South Carolina.

“We feel good,” she said. “We’re fighting for every single inch.”

Meanwhile, Perez said that Trump’s comments claiming that Democrats in New Hampshire will be voting for Haley in Tuesday’s to be a “dangerous lie.”

This week, Trump said in New Hampshire that Haley is “counting on Democrats and liberals to infiltrate your Republican primary,” and questioned why New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu, who endorses Haley would “allow Democrats to vote in the Republican Party.”

“There is zero truth in that statement,” said Perez. “It’s a very dangerou lie because it is so wrong and you’ve got fact-checkers working overtime to show people and disprove that lie.”

Democrats can’t vote in New Hampshire’s open primary, but independents can, said Perez. 

In New Hampshire, Democrats are only permitted to vote in Democrat primaries, with the cut-off date for voters to change party affiliations falling last October, reports ABC News. https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-pushes-false-claim-democrats-vote-new-hampshires/story?id=106512064 

Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung, however, told ABC News, that Haley “is relying on liberals and Democrats to infiltrate because that’s who she appeals to” and claimed thousands of Democrats switched to undeclared before the October cut-off date. 

Undeclared but registered voters will not be able to vote for President Joe Biden, who is not on the Democrat ballot, so a play is being made to attract them to vote for Haley over Trump. 

“Independents can vote in several other open primaries,” said Perez. “The Republican Party has lost the popular vote for seven out of the last eight presidential elections. That is nothing to be proud of. For years. We have been talking about how we want to win again, and the way to win is to bring people back into the fold.”

Haley has also been polling over Trump when added to a potential matchup with Biden, Perez noted. 

“If Donald Trump is the nominee, it will be another nail-biter of an election that will cost us more losses like we had in 2018, 2020, and 2022,” she added. “Nikki, when she goes head-to-head with Joe Biden, he beats him every single time, sometimes by as much as 17 points.”

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