When Nikki Haley predicted Kamala Harris would win presidency if Donald Trump secured GOP nomination
WASHINGTON, DC: In the lead-up to the 2024 US presidential election, Nikki Haley—the former US Ambassador to the United Nations—emerged as a formidable figure in the Republican primary.
Despite eventually losing the nomination to Donald Trump, one of Haley's predictions regarding the race has resurfaced and is making waves.
Nikki Haley's predicted Kamala Harris takeover
During the early stages of her campaign, Nikki Haley made a bold prediction regarding the potential outcome of the 2024 election, Mediaite reported.
In an interview with CNN's Kaitlan Collins in February, Haley remarked, "The party that gets rid of their 80-year-old candidate is the party that will win. There will be a female president of the United States. It will either be me or it will be Kamala Harris. If Republicans nominate Donald Trump, it will be Kamala Harris."
On Tuesday, Fox News hosts Martha MacCallum and Bret Baier discussed Haley’s prediction while previewing her upcoming interview with Baier.
MacCallum highlighted Haley’s seemingly prescient remarks while preparing to air another clip of her interview with Haley. “You know, looking back at some of these soundbites from Nikki Haley on the trail, some of them sound quite prescient. Let me just play one more, and then let me hear a little bit about what you’re looking forward to this evening,” she noted.
“When we look at the situation, we will have a female president. It will either be me or it will be Kamala Harris. We have to respect- 70 per cent of Americans said they don’t want a Biden-Trump rematch. The majority of Americans disapprove of Trump and disapprove of Biden,” Haley said at the time.
Baier pointed out that Haley had frequently mentioned Kamala Harris during her campaign stops and was interested in hearing Haley's current views on the party's direction.
“I think she spent a lot of time talking about Kamala Harris on the campaign trail. And we remember that from Iowa and New Hampshire, South Carolina,” he observed. “What I want to hear is where she thinks the party is now. She always talks about, even in the convention speech, unifying the party, getting behind former President Trump because they don’t have to agree 100 per cent of the time. Does she think the tent is expanding in this new battle with a new ticket that has a lot of energy on the Democratic side?”
Kamala Harris woos Republican voters
Harris's campaign has taken strategic steps to attract Republican voters, especially those disillusioned with Trump. Last week, Harris's campaign launched the 'Republicans for Harris' initiative, aimed at winning over Republican voters who might be hesitant to support Trump.
The program, described as a "campaign within a campaign," seeks to leverage well-known Republicans to activate their networks, particularly targeting primary voters who had supported Nikki Haley.
The initiative is designed to create what Harris's team calls "a permission structure" for GOP voters who might otherwise struggle to vote for a Democratic candidate. By facilitating Republican-to-Republican voter contact, the campaign hopes to persuade conservative voters that supporting Harris is a viable option, especially when framed as a choice between country and party loyalty.=
Austin Weatherford, Harris's national director of Republican outreach, declared that "Trump’s extremism is toxic to the millions of Republicans who no longer believe the party of Donald Trump represents their values."
He further noted that the campaign would focus on “showing up and taking the time every single day to earn the vote of Republicans who believe in putting country over party and know that every American deserves a president who will protect their freedoms and a commander in chief who will put the best interests of the American people above their own.”
Dynamics within the GOP
The Harris campaign's efforts to woo Republican voters come at a critical time. As the campaign kicks off events in key battleground states like Arizona, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania, it is clear that they are not taking any vote for granted.
The outreach to former Haley supporters is particularly strategic, given that hundreds of thousands of registered Republicans continued to vote for Haley in the primaries even after she ended her bid for the nomination.
Moreover, the campaign's advertisements have also sought to highlight the internal divisions within the Republican Party. One ad focused on former Trump staffers' criticisms of their former boss, while another highlighted Trump's personal attacks on Haley, including his derogatory nickname for her, "birdbrain," and his dismissive comment that "she’s not presidential timber."
Despite her past criticisms, Haley ultimately bent the knee and decided to endorse Trump after losing the Republican primary. In May, she announced her support for Trump and even appeared at the Republican National Convention—showcasing her willingness to rally behind the party's nominee, the Associated Press reported.
