On a cool February night in this popular enclave for tourists and retirees to enjoy warmer winters, hundreds of Nikki Haley supporters packed into a restaurant where the former South Carolina governor repeated a familiar line.
“Don’t you think it’s time we had mental competency tests for anyone over the age of 75?” Haley asked the crowd filled with seniors, who responded with loud applause. “These are people making decisions on our national security. These are people making decisions on the future of our economy. We need to know they’re at the top of their game.”
Haley, 52, has pitched herself as the leader of the next generation since launching her campaign almost a year ago. Her attacks on former President Donald Trump’s mental fitness have sharpened in recent months, and, with the state’s Republican primary in sight, the campaign recently started a media campaign in South Carolina casting Trump and President Joe Biden as two grumpy old men.
It could be a risky pitch in a place where Haley needs the support of senior voters. South Carolina was the fastest growing state in 2023, largely due to an influx of almost 40,000 retirees, according to the US Census Bureau. But even as Haley seeks to draw in older voters – especially those who have moved to the state in recent years – her campaign is leaning into distinctions between her relative youth compared with Biden and Trump.
Maureen Bulger, a 69-year-old retiree who moved to Hilton Head from New Jersey in 2022, watched Haley’s remarks intently from the back of the restaurant. She’s planning on voting for the former South Carolina governor in the primary on February 24, in part because she agrees with Haley’s argument that older politicians should step aside.
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