- Republican presidential candidates leave for New Hampshire on Tuesday
- The state could be Nikki Haley’s last, best chance to topple Donald Trump
- “He has nowhere to hide anymore,” she said, daring him to debate her
Republican 2024 candidate Nikki Haley said she would no longer participate in campaign debates unless Donald Trump appeared. On Tuesday morning, she challenged the former president as the focus shifted to the New Hampshire primary.
Haley finished third in the Iowa caucuses on Monday night, but has a better chance of slowing Trump’s momentum in the Granite State.
“We’ve had five great debates during this campaign,” she said.
“Unfortunately, Donald Trump has scrutinized them all. He has nowhere to hide anymore.
“The next debate I do will be with Donald Trump or Joe Biden. I look forward.’
“I love you, Iowa, but we’re headed to New Hampshire,” Nikki Haley told supporters Monday night. In Iowa, she offered herself as the best candidate to disrupt the elections of Trump and Biden.
Trump received more than half of the votes in the Iowa elections. He is on track to be the Republican nominee to take on President Joe Biden in the November elections.
Analysts say New Hampshire next week could be the last, best chance to stop him.
“If Haley doesn’t win in New Hampshire, if Trump wins in New Hampshire, the nomination is essentially his,” said Andrew Smith, director of the University of New Hampshire Survey Center.
“This is ‘do or die’ for the non-Trump Republicans who remain.”
Neither Haley nor Florida Governor Ron DeSantis got the desired bump from Iowa, where they finished at 19 percent and 21 percent respectively, far behind Trump’s 51 percent.
Both tried to argue that they were now the best person to challenge Trump.
It is Haley who has the best chances next Tuesday in New Hampshire. She has previously spoken about how New Hampshire voters can “correct” the Iowa result, and is second in the polls and just a handful of points behind Trump.
‘Underestimate me, because that’s always fun. “I love you, Iowa, but we’re headed to New Hampshire,” she told supporters Monday night.
Haley laid down her challenge Tuesday morning as the focus shifted to New Hampshire
In an extraordinary show of force, Trump grabbed one from every bar in Iowa. Haley won Johnson County, home to the University of Iowa, by one vote
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis finished second in Iowa with 21 percent, but is that enough after betting so much on a strong showing in the state, with its high share of evangelicals?
Unlike Iowa, with its large evangelical population, New Hampshire is known for more moderate Republicanism and a more highly educated electorate.
They play to Haley’s strengths.
And anti-Trump groups have waged campaigns to convince Democrats to reregister as “black,” allowing them to participate in New Hampshire’s “semi-open primaries.”
Haley has already campaigned heavily in the state. And she will hold a rally Tuesday in northern New Hampshire with the state’s governor, Chris Sununu, who has endorsed her.
In contrast, DeSantis is running in single digits and has gone straight to South Carolina after the Iowa results, a sign that he has all but given up on New Hampshire.
At 7:30 a.m., Trump had more than 51 percent of the vote, while Haley and DeSantis finished in second and third place
Former President Donald Trump raises his fist in the air after winning the Iowa Caucus on January 15, as son Eric looks on
As a result, Trump is urging his opponents to resign so he can focus on defeating Biden.
His victory speech on Monday had the magnanimous air of a man who had won the nomination, not a candidate who had only won the first contest.
“I want to congratulate Ron and Nikki for having a great time together,” he said. “We’re all having fun together.”
Tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy announced that he was ending his campaign after finishing in fourth place.