GOFFSTOWN, N.H. – EXCLUSIVE – Nikki Haley, a Republican presidential candidate, says that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is “an echo” of former President Donald Trump and that he “needs to get out there and say what he believes.” DeSantis is expected to join Haley and Trump in the 2024 GOP presidential nomination race in the next few hours.
Haley, governor of South Carolina for two terms and later served as Trump’s ambassador to the U.N., aimed DeSantis in an interview with Fox News Digital on Wednesday. The interview was a national exclusive, and it took place in New Hampshire, which has the first primary and second overall election for the Republican presidential nomination.
Sources close to the popular conservative governor told Fox News on Tuesday that DeSantis will announce he is running for president on Wednesday at 6 p.m. E.T. during a chat with Elon Musk on Twitter. Along with his announcement, DeSantis is scheduled to file paperwork with the Federal Election Commission, which will officially start his GOP presidential campaign. After the information, his first national T.V. appearance will be with Trey Gowdy of Fox News at 8 p.m. E.T. on Wednesday’s “Fox News Tonight.”
Haley was the first prominent Republican to run against Trump. Trump is still the clear front-runner in GOP primary polls as he runs for the White House for the third time. Even though he hasn’t been running for president until now, DeSantis is second in the polls, even though his position has dropped recently. He is ahead of Haley and the other natural and possible Republican candidates for the White House.
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She said that DeSantis was “copying” President Trump. He needs to be an individual. He needs to stand up for what he thinks is right and how he feels. If he repeats what Trump says, people will vote for Trump instead. Why doesn’t he go out? I’m an individual. You’ll see, and what you see is what you’ll get. I’ll tell you what I think about it. I’m going to say what I think. And I’m just going to let things go as they may. He should do what you do.”
Fox News asked Haley if her criticism of DeSantis would only help Trump. She said, “It’s a primary. In a primary, you show how people are different.”
“I’m putting myself out there. I’m showing people why I’m different, what I can do, and how I turned a state with double-digit unemployment into an economic powerhouse during my two terms as governor. I wasn’t just in charge of one country at the U.N.; I was in charge of 193. I had worked in national security. I bring it up and talk about it.”
“He should talk about what he brings to the table,” Haley said, pointing to DeSantis. We want to show who we are and what makes us different. He reveals who he is and how similar he is to Trump. I don’t think that’s what the people of the United States want to see.”
Haley’s words to Fox News come a day after her campaign released a memo that said DeSantis was a worse choice than Trump and that the Florida governor seemed to “mimic” the former president. Early Wednesday morning, Haley’s campaign released a video called “A choice, not an echo.” The video shows how DeSantis has copied Trump in the past and how Haley is the natural option for the former president in the GOP presidential field.
DeSantis, who is more than 30 years younger than Trump at age 44, won his first election as governor in 2018 with much help from Trump, president at the time. But as he built a political brand that runs from coast to coast, he became a force in his own right.
In the past three years, the governor’s popularity among conservatives nationwide has gone through the roof. He fought back hard against coronavirus pandemic restrictions and went after the media, corporations, and school unions as a “culture warrior.” DeSantis won by a historic 19-point margin in Florida, which used to be a battleground state. During Florida’s just-ended legislative session, a GOP supermajority in Tallahassee helped DeSantis pass several conservative policies, such as a controversial six-week abortion law, stricter immigration laws, restrictions on gender and diversity education in schools, and the right to carry a concealed weapon without a permit.
Trump saw DeSantis as the biggest threat to him winning the GOP nomination in 2024, so he started going after the Florida governor last fall, calling him “Ron DeSanctimonious.” Trump and his friends have been increasingly attacking over the past few months.
Haley also went after Trump on Wednesday but didn’t say his name. Before her talk with Fox News, Haley gave the keynote speech at the latest “Politics and Eggs” event at Saint Anselm College’s New Hampshire Institute of Politics. She said, “We need a new generational leader. We have to leave the past behind. We have to stop being so bad.”
Haley went to New Hampshire on Tuesday, a day after Republican Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina officially started his campaign for president at a significant event in his hometown of North Charleston, where he lives. Haley and Scott have many of the same friends, allies, donors, and fans. When Haley was governor, she moved Scott from the House to the Senate to fill a seat that had become open.
