'Women for Nikki' Coalition Courts Group Sees Trump Postponing
As Nikki Haley heads into the final stretch of South Carolina's Republican primary on Feb. 24, her presidential campaign on Tuesday unveiled a new national coalition aimed at making inroads against one group in particular: suburban women who have been rejected by former President Donald J. Trump.
The group, the National Women for Nikki Coalition, includes more than 4,500 members in all 50 states and Puerto Rico, organizers said. These members will ramp up campaign initiatives for voting, phone banking and other surrogate events in the coming weeks as Ms. Haley, the former governor of South Carolina, looks to continue her campaign after the next GOP contest.
Although she has long odds against Mr. Trump, Ms. Haley has indicated she wants to stay in the race at least until Super Tuesday, March 5, when 15 states and one territory will vote on a Republican presidential candidate.
“They are a good representative of Republican women, suburban women, independent women who have had enough and know we can do better — so much better,” said Annie Dickerson, the coalition's national co-chair, adding that Ms. Haley spoke on behalf of 'the forgotten middle' of American politics.
Haley campaign officials say they are looking to reach independents, new Republican voters and women in increasingly diverse and highly educated suburbs across the country who left the Republican Party in the recent election amid the rise of Mr. Trump. But as the former president maintains his hold on the Republican base, they face an uphill climb.
A poll released in December by The New York Times and Siena College found that 63 percent of female Republican primary voters supported Mr. Trump, despite his long history of misogynistic comments and accusations of sexual misconduct. Ms. Haley received 12 percent support from that group. Other studies show that she receives more support men than women.
Ms. Haley's female supporters tend to highlight her leadership qualities and foreign policy experience more than her gender in celebrating her bid. Ms. Haley herself tends to toe a careful line on that aspect of her identity, nodding to her high heels and jabbing at the “boys” in the race while rarely, if ever, mentioning that she's vying to be the first female to become a woman. president.
More recently, she has brought up this fact mainly to attack President Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, suggesting that Mr. Biden would not get a second term and might not even be selected as the Democratic nominee.
“What I will tell you is that there will be a female president of the United States,” she said to cheers during a bus stop on Saturday in Greenwood, S.C. “The hard truth is that it will either be me or Kamala Harris. ”