Some voters in New Hampshire are looking for an alternative to Biden and Trump, former presidents who are both running for re-election. That’s leading them to consider Nikki Haley.
JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
As the New Hampshire primary approaches – there’s less than three weeks to go – the GOP candidate attracting a lot of attention is Nikki Haley. The former governor from South Carolina has been making regular campaign stops in the state for months. But these days, many of those events are standing room only. NHPR’s Todd Bookman reports on who’s showing up for her rallies and why.
TODD BOOKMAN, BYLINE: The parking lot attendants were overmatched – car after car pouring into a country club parking lot in the coastal town of Rye, N.H., earlier this week to see Nikki Haley.
AMY KENNEDY: I am leaning strongly towards her. I want to see her in person, see how she does.
BOOKMAN: Amy Kennedy and her husband live in nearby Northampton. Like a lot of people here, they’re looking for an alternative to Donald Trump. In Haley, they see a fresh choice.
KENNEDY: I think we need a younger, more dynamic government.
BOOKMAN: Why is that important to you?
KENNEDY: Because I think the group we have isn’t doing a good job.
BOOKMAN: And that’s a message that 51-year-old Haley hammers in her stump speech – that Washington has become too gray, too entrenched, too disconnected.
(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)
NIKKI HALEY: Right now, Congress has become the most privileged nursing home in the country. These are people making decisions on our national security. These are people making decisions on the future of our economy. It’s nothing to play with. We need to know that we’ve got people at the top of their game.
BOOKMAN: Haley reached the top of South Carolina politics as governor and then was appointed by Trump to be U.N. ambassador. Her pitch to voters focuses heavily on foreign policy, national security and the country’s budget. But increasingly,…
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