The budding rivalry between Haley and Ramaswamy

There’s a rivalry brewing in the Republican presidential primary.

While the second GOP debate was mired in crosstalk and suffered from a lack of constraint by the moderators, one theme that stood out was former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley mixing it up with young entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy.

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“Honestly, every time I hear you, I feel a little bit dumber for what you say,” Haley snapped at Ramaswamy at one point. She added later, “We can’t trust you!”

The two attempted to speak over each other onstage in California, just as they had in Milwaukee in August, with Haley eventually winning out.

But a story soon made the rounds on social media in which Haley sang a different tune about Ramaswamy. On the back cover of his latest book, Capitalist Punishment, Haley praises Ramaswamy’s “combination of honesty, intellect, and foresight.”

The book was released in April, less than six months ago and after both Haley and Ramaswamy had entered the race.

“I’d say this aged very well,” Ramaswamy’s campaign posted on X, formerly known as Twitter. The account reposted clips of Haley’s daughter, Rena’s posts on TikTok. The campaign called on the former governor and U.N. ambassador to explain her daughter’s account.

But the recent animosity between the two may simply reflect the divergent policy stances each has carved out on the campaign trail.

Ramaswamy has embraced the more populist model of Donald Trump, calling The Donald an excellent president and promising to “honor his legacy more than anyone else will.” Ramaswamy diverges sharply from the more traditionally conservative Haley, for example favoring a reduced U.S. role in Ukraine.

“Just because Putin is an evil dictator does not mean that Ukraine is good,” he said Wednesday.

Ukraine was the source of their first clash in August, in which Haley charged that Ramaswamy had “no foreign policy experience, and it shows.”

This time it was a row over TikTok, the wildly popular social media app that Ramaswamy recently joined. When asked about the app, which has strong ties to the Chinese government, Ramaswamy framed it as being about electability.

“I have a radical idea for the Republican Party,” he said. “We need to win elections.”

That led a frustrated Haley to declare TikTok one of the most dangerous social media apps and a reason not to trust her younger opponent.

Both instances showcase the clear policy divide between the two, leaving observers to choose which they prefer.

“The former South Carolina governor is a profile in maturity and substance seasoned by experience,” said Adam Goodman, a Republican media strategist who has advised Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, and Jeb Bush. “Vivek Ramaswamy is a study in spin to win, preferring to generate clickbait versus principles for governing.”

But until recently, it was Ramaswamy who had the polling edge between the two. He began peaking above the single-digit fray in August, according to the RealClearPolitics average, and topped out at 8.1% on Sept. 21 before falling behind Haley in the most recent polls.

Of course, primaries are decided by individual states rather than nationally.

A recent CNN poll for New Hampshire, the second state to vote in 2024, found that Trump carried a sizable lead with 39% support among likely voters. In second place was Ramaswamy at 13%, followed by Haley at 12%. Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL), once the clear alternative to Trump, stood in fifth with 10% support.

Hillary Seeger, a New Hampshire resident who is involved in politics and backed former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s 2016 campaign, said she’s seen both Haley and Ramaswamy in person and is impressed with each of them.

“I’ve met Vivek and I think he’s a very kind, real, concerned, and caring man,” she said. “I just disagree with him.”

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Seeger thought Haley got the better of her sparring partner on Wednesday night and plans to see her at a campaign event in mid-October.

“I don’t like his stance on Ukraine,” Seeger said. “I don’t think we can sit here and isolate and let Russia and China take the world over and think we’ll be safe in our little bubble. Haley realizes that — that we aren’t an island.”