Chants of ‘Trump 2024’ greet former SC Governor Nikki Haley at conservative gathering

Nikki Haley delivered a politely received speech Friday at an annual gathering of national conservatives, mentioning a series of subjects — including China and “woke” politics — that have become early themes of her presidential campaign.

And then the “Trump” chants began.

About a dozen supporters of former President Donald Trump greeted Haley after her remarks here, loudly chanting his name as she posed for pictures and signed books amid a swell of people outside the main ballroom gathered at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference.

“Trump 2024!” one woman yelled, starting a chorus of young men standing nearby to start yelling “Trump! Trump! Trump!” The cheers would erupt twice more, drowning out the occasional response from Haley supporters.

If the yelling bothered Haley, she didn’t show it — the governor continued to greet and hug supporters for roughly 10 minutes, before eventually making her way to a bank of elevators at the hotel hosting the conference.

But the incident was a reminder of how Trump, even more than two years after he was voted out of office, continues to hold a tight grip on a vocal segment of the conservative movement.

Haley, who served as Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations, is at this point the only major Republican candidate besides her former boss to formally seek the party’s presidential nomination. And it has angered some diehard Trump supporters.

“I’ve never listened to Nikki Haley, and I don’t think she’s going to do very well in the primaries,” Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia told reporters at CPAC, before the former governor’s remarks here.

Greene, who has endorsed Trump, delivered a speech at CPAC earlier in the day Friday, earning praise and applause just a week after she called for a “national divorce” between liberals and conservatives.

Haley’s reception at CPAC, of course, isn’t necessarily representative of how her presidential campaign is being received more broadly within the Republican Party. The annual conference, once a marquee gathering for conservative of all types, has lost luster in recent years, marred by accusations that it has embraced Trump at the expense of all of the party’s other factions.

Indeed, Haley’s speech Friday was wedged between remarks from Trump’s son Don Jr. and daughter-in-law Lara, and the former president himself is scheduled to deliver the conference’s final speech on Saturday.

Many of the men and women attending the conference were dressed with Trump-branded clothing, from sequined jackets bearing his name to red hats that stated “Trump was right.”

Many early polls of a hypothetical field of 2024 Republican candidates show Haley receiving support in the mid-single-digits, well below Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis but still more than potential rivals like former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, both of whom are considering presidential campaigns.

But even beyond the reception she received after her speech, Haley’s speech also failed to elicit the kind of reaction she’s used to receiving. One oft-repeated line of hers from the campaign trail —that Republicans need to adjust their political approach after losing seven of the last 8 popular votes for president — was met with only tepid applause.

Another proposal, that government officials over the age of 75 should have to take a mental competency test, was met with silence.

Trump is 76.

“We should start with Joe Biden, and we shouldn’t stop there,” said Haley, who has said in interviews that she thought Trump would pass the test without problem.

Even some of Haley’s supporters in the audience noticed the chilly response.

“I’m a debate coach. You have to feel out your audience,” said Kelly Schofield, a resident of Fairfax County, Virginia, who was at the conference to show her support for the former governor.

Schofield, who would later take a picture with Haley after giving her a hug, said she nonetheless thought she gave a good speech. Schofield is a self-described “super fan” of the former governor’s, having attended her campaign launch in Charleston in February.

Haley has the personal qualities necessary to be president, said Schofield, who added that she would also be thrilled to see the first woman president. The Virginia resident said she was also hopeful that Haley could restore civility to the country’s politics.

“I have never heard her use a derogatory word in any of her speeches,” she said.

Haley will speak at the fiscal conservative group Club for Growth annual donor retreat Saturday in Palm Beach, Fla., before traveling to Iowa for a trio of campaign stops next week.

On March 13th, she’ll return to South Carolina, visiting a technical college in Myrtle Beach.