When Ambassador Nikki Haley addressed the Ronald Reagan Library for its “Time for Choosing” series, she offered the requisite praise for the 40th president’s principled leadership and accomplishments. But she also paid homage to one of his underappreciated and intangible skills – his ability to inspire confidence in Americans that they could overcome the enormous challenges of their time.
Today, a sense of self-loathing once again consumes our nation, and only Nikki Haley is offering a positive vision to unite the country and overcome the greatest challenges of our time.
Since she first ran for a seat in the South Carolina state legislature, Nikki Haley has always been underestimated and always exceeded expectations. As a legislator, she was punished by her own party’s leadership when she pushed for reforms to make the legislature transparent and accountable.
As governor, she signed the toughest laws cracking down on illegal immigration and revolutionized the South Carolina business climate to make the state “The Beast of the Southeast” and a manufacturing powerhouse.
As U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, she restored American leadership on the world stage by standing up to our adversaries and defending our allies. And she did it all with grit and grace as a mom and the wife of a combat veteran.
Since announcing her presidential campaign last February, Nikki has proven she’s as tough and tenacious as ever, holding over 150 events in the early states of Iowa, New Hampshire, and South Carolina. She was the first candidate to travel to the southern border to see the crisis first hand and she has a plan to secure the border that will stop illegal immigration once and for all. Her Freedom Plan will provide much-needed tax relief for working and middle class families. That includes eliminating the federal gas and diesel tax, which would be especially welcome here in California where we pay the nation’s highest prices for gas and groceries.While Governor Gavin Newsom has made himself a willing supplicant to the Chinese Communist Party, Nikki Haley understands the threat of China clearly. She will challenge China’s unfair trade practices and stop the flow of fentanyl from Chinese factories that kills tens of thousands of Americans each year.
Polls currently show a tight race between former president Donald Trump and Joe Biden but those very same polls show Nikki Haley trouncing Biden outside the margin of error. We don’t need or want another nail-biter of an election; Nikki Haley would beat Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in a landslide.That is especially important in California, where Republicans have won close elections by broadening support across diverse districts. A Politico analysis found that Nikki Haley maintains the same level of support as Trump with white working class voters, but broadens that support to include younger and middle-class voters as well. It’s easy to see why.
In 2015, when a white supremacist killed nine black parishioners at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, Governor Haley wrapped her arms around the community. Her engaged and empathetic leadership helped avoid the riots that plagued Ferguson, Missouri a year earlier and she was able to bring together a broad coalition of lawmakers to remove the Confederate flag from statehouse grounds, not to erase the past, but to embrace the future.
Just as Republicans in California have won over Asian and Hispanic voters with exceptional local, state, and congressional candidates, Nikki Haley’s experience as the daughter of Indian immigrants and her record as governor resonates with Americans across the political spectrum.
As Iowans brave the bitter cold for the caucuses this Monday, the Republicans who not only want to beat Biden but win a mandate to secure the border, restore American leadership on the world stage, and empower American workers and small businesses, are voting for Nikki Haley.
Those of us in the states with primaries that follow have our own time for choosing approaching. We must support the conservative candidate in this race who can win in November. It’s time for us to leave the self-loathing behind and unite America with Nikki Haley as our nominee.
Corey Uhden is a Founding Partner of Persuade Strategies and a delegate to the California Republican Party. He currently volunteers as State Chair of the Young Americans for Nikki coalition and can be found on X @CACoreyU.
