From Beaufort’s Waterfront Park, Haley sends a clear message: I’m not backing down or out

“I defeated a dozen of the fellas,” Republican presidential hopeful and former governor Nikki Haley told a cheering crowd of more than 500 people at Beaufort’s Waterfront Park Wednesday evening.

“I just have one more I need to catch up to.”

She was referring to the size of the Republican field when she got in the race a year ago and how she has outlasted all but one rolling into Saturday’s primary in the Palmetto State.

From the stage of the park’s pavilion, Haley assured her Beaufort supporters and others in attendance that she is not getting out of the race for the battle for the GOP nomination no matter what happens Saturday.

Former President Donald Trump’s lead is in the double-digits but Haley remained defiant at the Beaufort campaign stop, promising the crowd she plans to press on to Michigan, the next Republican primary on Tuesday.

“I am not going anywhere,” Haley said.

Nikki Haley, former S.C. Governor and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, walks from her campaign bus with 14th Circuit Solicitor Duffie Stone at her left to Henry C. Chambers Waterfront Park on Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2024, in Beaufort.

Haley urged those who attended to take advantage of one more day to participate in early voting “and take five friends” to the polls Thursday in the South Carolina primary. Early voting ends tomorrow evening in advance of the Saturday in-person election.

Haley hammers the advancing age of her opponents

Haley took shots at both Trump who is 77, and Joe Biden at age 81 in her 45-minute long talk and lamented the possibility of race between two senior citizens. Haley’s criticism wasn’t contained to the job at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, she also raised concerns that congress has become the most privileged nursing home in the country referring to many of its members approaching their dotage. She said she supports a mental competency test for public officials over 75 years old and the imposition of term limits.

Haley questions the viability of both front runners’ campaigns

The majority of Americans, she said, disapprove of both candidates, who have taken to calling each side’s supporters names — to Biden, Trump’s supporters are “fascists” while Trump calls Biden supporters “vermin.” “It’s ridiculous,” Haley said.

The problem with Trump, she said, is he’s ranting about the multiple legal proceedings that have been filed against him instead of focusing on the country’s problems like the $34 trillion debt. The hard truth, Haley said, is both Republicans and Democrats are to blame for the debt problem faced by the country. She promised to crack down on wasteful spending. “Don’t you think we need to have an accountant in the White House?” said Haley, who holds an accounting and finance degree from Clemson University.

She also criticized her Republican opponent for a narrow focus on his own interests. “He’s only talking about himself,” Haley said, “and that’s the problem.”

Haley says she offers a new path forward and billed herself as the candidate who can beat Biden. Polls show Trump’s chances are within the margin of error. Haley says she polls much better against the Democratic president.

She criticized Trump for his comments in Conway, S.C. on Feb. 11 when he said he would, as president, warn NATO allies that he “would encourage” Russia “to do whatever the hell they want” to countries that are “delinquent” in their contributions to the organization. “Trump is siding with a thug,” she said.

On what may be one of the hottest issues of this campaign, Haley had strong words for citizen Trump: The country needs a border bill and Trump “needs to stay out of it. period,” said Haley, a reference to Trump’s influence on the defeat of border legislation earlier this month.

What the attendees had to say

Greg Schulte, a Dataw Island resident who was a member of the national security staff in the Bill Clinton and George W. Bush administrations, said Haley does not necessarily need to win the South Carolina battle to win the war against Trump for the nomination. Haley, he said, just needs to make a decent showing “so the rest of the country can see how good she is, and how she can bring the country together.”

As U.S. ambassador to the United Nations in the Trump administration, Schulte added, Haley has foreign policy chops. “She sees the threats to our country in a very clear-eyed fashion,” he said.

Mark Seckinger of Bluffton was handing out Nikki Haley signs at the rally and wearing a T-shirt that read, “Make Facts Great Again,” a derisive play on Trump’s “MAGA” campaign slogan. The T-shirt, he said, “has been the hit of the day.”

“I can’t see those other two being in there another four years,” Seckinger said of Trump and Biden, and explaining why he’s supporting Haley. “That would be insane.”

Mark Seckinger, wearing a T-shirt that reads “Make Facts Great Again,” hands out Nikki Haley campaign posters to the crowd during her rally Wednesday in Beaufort.

Helen Hodges, another Bluffton resident, said Haley puts the country first, not herself. “And that’s what we need,” Hodges said.

South Carolina’s Republican presidential preference primary is Feb. 24 but early voting began Feb. 12 at the Hilton Head Government Complex, Bluffton Rec Center, Beaufort Voter Registration Office in Beaufort and the St Helena Library Branch.

Haley previously campaigned at Oyster Factory Park in Bluffton and the Forrest Fire BBQ restaurant on Hilton Head Island. This was her third recent appearance in the county.

Nikki Haley, former S.C. Governor and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, campaigns at Henry C. Chambers Waterfront Park three days before South Carolina’s Republican Presidential Primary on Wednesday, Feb. 21, 2024, in Beaufort.