MANCHESTER, New Hampshire — Former President Donald Trump brought out a delegation of South Carolina officials supporting his 2024 campaign as he seeks to defeat South Carolinian and former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley in Tuesday’s New Hampshire primary.
Gov. Henry McMaster (R-SC), Lt. Gov. Pamela Evette (R-SC), Attorney General Alan Wilson, South Carolina House Speaker Murrell Smith, state Treasurer Curtis Loftis, Reps. Russell Fry (R-SC), Joe Wilson (R-SC), and William Timmons (R-SC) were among the core of supporters who joined Trump onstage at the Manchester, New Hampshire, rally Saturday night.
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“I don’t know if you notice, but all the statewide elected officials in South Carolina, would call them constitutional officers, are for Trump,” said McMaster, who succeeded Haley as governor. “Step one, she’s a rookie, and she’ll figure it out before long. Our two U.S. senators and the vast majority of the people of South Carolina want Donald Trump.”
Evette perhaps summed up the problem Haley and Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) face in their primary campaigns: “Everybody likes to talk about Donald Trump’s policies, and they want to take credit for him,” she said. “But when this man was born, God broke the mold. And you cannot have President Trump policies without President Trump.”
Haley frequently slams Trump for what she calls the chaos that follows him, but the GOP base has made it abundantly clear that he remains the favorite. His poll numbers increased as he racked up 91 indictments over four criminal cases last year. DeSantis also campaigned as a Trump persona without the drama, but his poll numbers have only decreased while the former presdient’s numbers have risen.
The South Carolina delegation’s support comes one day after Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) endorsed Trump at a Concord, New Hampshire, rally, claiming the nation needed Trump. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) has long embraced his 2016 rival’s campaign.
In a move meant to humiliate Haley, a two-term South Carolina governor, Fry asked the crowd of Trump supporters a simple question.
“I came all the way to New Hampshire because I have one question,” Fry said. “Actually, two. Is this Nikki Haley country?”
“No,” the crowd shouted back before booing Haley.
“Or is this Donald Trump country?” Fry continued.
“Yes,” the crowd roared back.
Smith, the South Carolina House speaker, added a stinging comment when he spoke.
“I served with Nikki Haley in the General Assembly,” he said. “I held a fundraiser for her when she ran for governor in my home. But I can tell you right now, I, as well as a majority of my colleagues and the leadership of the South Carolina House representatives and members, are supporting Donald Trump.”
The former president is hoping he can replicate his success in the Granite State’s primary after a dominant win in the Iowa caucuses. The former president leads Haley 49.7% to 34%, a nearly 16-percentage-point difference, according to a RealClearPolitics average of New Hampshire polls. In South Carolina, he leads 52% to 21.8%, a 30-percentage-point difference.
Haley has said that a second-place finish in New Hampshire would not end her campaign and that she expects to continue through the Feb. 24 South Carolina primary.
Trump, however, is hoping to push both her and DeSantis out of the primary race. He repeatedly slammed Haley throughout his rally, including referencing a Washington Examiner investigation on Saturday about a Haley New Hampshire staffer’s ties to a left-wing dark money group.
“It was just reported that Nikki Haley’s state director in New Hampshire, this is a very bad one, listen carefully, Tyler Clark, did anyone ever hear of him?” Trump asked the crowd.
“He was a lobbyist for the Sixteen Thirty Fund, which is managed by Arabella Advisors, which is the largest Democratic dark money network in the country and considered public enemy No. 1,” the former president added. “That’s who’s managing her campaign. Does that tell you something, perhaps?”
Trump also slammed Haley over her conservative bona fides, calling her a Republican in name only and wooing Democratic supporters to aid her campaign.
On Saturday, Haley questioned the 77-year-old Trump over his mental fitness. “When you’re 80, you’re just not as sharp as you used to be,” Haley said after Trump appeared to confuse her with Speaker Emeritus Nancy Pelosi (R-CA).
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Trump pushed back against Haley on Saturday.
“Well, I don’t mind being 80, but I’m 77,” he said. “That’s a big difference.”