SC’s Haley, a Republican, says Democrats smart for pushing ‘younger’ Harris for president
Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who ran for the GOP nomination for president this year, said it’s smart of the Democratic Party to push a younger candidate this year after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race.
Haley’s comments were made in an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper on Thursday. Republicans have nominated 78-year-old Donald Trump for the third straight cycle.
Vice President Kamala Harris, 59, is the front-runner to be the Democratic nominee as the party is scheduled to begin its virtual vote Aug. 1.
During Haley’s campaign she said the first party to move on from its 80-year-old candidate would win the election. She questioned whether Biden would finish a second term. She often said a vote for Biden is a vote for “President Kamala Harris.”
“The Democrats are very smart to put in a younger candidate. I think that that’s what America has craved,” Haley said to Tapper.
She often called for mental competency tests for politicians 75 and older during her campaign.
“I wasn’t doing it to be disrespectful. I wasn’t doing it to be mean. I was doing it because I think it’s not just Joe Biden,” Haley said Thursday. “There is an issue that we have in D.C. where people will go into office, and they won’t let go. And then their staffers and their family keep propping them up. And it’s a problem for the American people.”
Haley wasn’t all complimentary of Harris. The former ambassador to the United Nations called the vice president the weakest possible candidate in the race.
“She had one job. That was to deal with illegal immigration and the border. She didn’t do it. She was the most progressive senator that we had next to Bernie Sanders. You can see it playing out,” Haley said. “Whether it’s the fact that she didn’t show up at Bibi’s speech (Wednesday), whether it’s the fact that she pushed for all this government spending, whether it’s the fact that when she was in California, the most liberal state, there was no tax she didn’t propose. There was nothing that she didn’t want to see.”
Haley also touched on her future when Tapper asked the 52-year-old whether she would work again in a Trump administration or if she would seek the White House again.
“I’m not looking for a job in his administration. I don’t know whether I would run again,” Haley said. “I think you never say never. But I don’t know how you could be someone who goes through all that and says, ’ oh, let’s run for president again’. It’s just not a natural thing. So, right now, that’s not, you know, what I’m thinking. What I know is, how do I fight for my country? How do I continue to love her and show the blessings that we have, and how do we make her stronger? So I know my voice will always be out there. I know I will always be active in some way. And so we’ll see.”
This story was originally published July 26, 2024 at 1:08 PM.
