Nikki Haley
@NikkiHaley
I passed one of the toughest immigration laws in the country when Donald Trump was still a New York City liberal donating to Kamala Harris. South Carolinians know I’ll be tough on illegal immigration as president because it’s what I did as governor.
5:24 PM · Feb 5, 2024
https://twitter.com/NikkiHaley/status/1754632140271001956
Nikki's second event today……and as a bonus I have included a vid and picture of her first event today just ICYMI
Justin Dougherty
@DoughertyJC
Nikki Haley about to take the stage here in Spartanburg @IndigoHallSC
6:02 PM · Feb 5, 2024
https://twitter.com/DoughertyJC/status/1754641750683955472
https://twitter.com/rick_wiley/status/1754606337621672258
https://twitter.com/GavinJackson/status/1754589730669240505
Listen very carefully to a person that lost to Nikki in the governor's race in the past….
Justin Dougherty
@DoughertyJC
Former SC congressman Gresham Barrett introducing
@NikkiHaley
here in Spartanburg.
At one time, he lost to Haley in the governors race. Now he’s endorsing her for president.
6:18 PM · Feb 5, 2024
https://twitter.com/DoughertyJC/status/1754645712162160894
Former SC congressman Gresham Barrett was mentioned in one of my prior digs…..See below.
"Former congressman J. Gresham Barrett (R-S.C.) still remembers what he calls the “seismic” quake that upended the 2010 South Carolina Republican primary for governor.
His campaign had just gotten polling results that second Wednesday in May, which showed him leading a trio of rivals — two other White Republicans and a little-known Indian American state lawmaker named Nikki Haley, who had been rising in the polls but was still mired in single digits.
Then, that Friday, former vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin came to town, holding a raucous rally for Haley on the steps of the South Carolina State House in downtown Columbia.
“We felt a tectonic shift, honestly, to the point where we actually went back into the field the next week, because it was that earth-shattering,” Barrett said.
The results were stark: All three men had dropped in internal polling, Barrett said, “and Nikki had gone from single digits to the 20s — and she never came back down.”
The 3½ week stretch in spring 2010 — from when Palin endorsed Haley on May 14 to when Haley bested her three rivals in the state’s Republican gubernatorial primary on June 8 — proved seminal for Haley, who went on to serve as South Carolina’s governor for six years.
During that 26-day period, Haley, then 38, would successfully take on her state’s good ol’ boy network, all while parrying an onslaught of sexist and racist attacks — including being called a “raghead” by a fellow lawmaker and two claims without evidence that she’d had affairs outside of her marriage, which she denied."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2024/01/07/nikki-haley-south-carolina-governor/
Here is also a previous article I posted from him….
Commentary: Never underestimate Nikki Haley. I did, and I got trounced.
By Gresham Barrett
Jan 3, 2024
https://www.postandcourier.com/opinion/commentary/commentary-never-underestimate-nikki-haley-i-did-and-i-got-trounced/article_85de04bc-a694-11ee-80b1-4b0ff720b1a5.html
Donald Trump is going to lose in South Carolina — to Nikki Haley.
I say that as someone who lost in South Carolina — to Nikki Haley.
The year was 2010. I’d thrown my hat into the ring for governor. It was a big field with several well-known Republicans running, but Nikki Haley — then a state representative from Lexington — wasn’t on anyone’s likely winner list.
We were wrong. We underestimated Nikki Haley — just like people did when she ran against a 30-year Republican incumbent for the state Legislature, and just like her opponents have been underestimating her in the current presidential campaign. She didn’t let the naysayers get to her. She put her head down and went to work. She is one of the hardest working candidates I have ever met.
Haley is principled, persuasive and plain-spoken. She tells hard truths, answers hard questions and takes on the hardest fights — the fights that matter most to the people of South Carolina. In our race, it was transparency, accountability and fiscal responsibility. Haley owned those issues, and she broke down complicated spending topics in simple, everyday terms.
In the end, Nikki Haley was both the immovable object and an unstoppable force. She came from way behind, and in the final months leading up to the primary, her momentum grew — and grew some more, just like it’s doing now. She ended up winning the runoff with 65% of the vote, and a few months later, the people of South Carolina elected her governor.
Although it stung at the time, I can now say I’m glad Nikki Haley won. She was the right leader for our state, transforming our economy and uniting us in difficult times. Now she’s the right person for America.
First, she has to get through the candidate many people assume is going to win the S.C. primary: Donald Trump.
Trump should be afraid. History is repeating itself.
Haley is doing the same thing she did in 2010. She’s showing up and proving she’s the hardest worker of the bunch. She jumped into the race early because she didn’t need to wait and see what the other candidates decided, and right after she announced, she hit the campaign trail in New Hampshire and Iowa, holding town halls and answering voters’ questions. She didn’t get distracted by the media’s narrative or the latest fights on social media.
Her message is principled and strong. She hasn’t wavered in her support of our allies or backed away from criticizing Republicans — including Donald Trump — for adding $8 trillion to the national debt in just four years: nearly as much as Barack Obama added in eight years. The irresponsible spending played a role in the runaway inflation that’s still crippling families, and it’s holding us back at the exact time we need to move forward to hold China accountable.
Trump is taking South Carolina for granted, and Nikki Haley is taking South Carolina seriously, like she always has. She led our state in a better direction for six years. She stood with South Carolinians during our best and worst moments, and now she will lead our country toward a brighter future. I couldn’t be more honored to support her for president.
All she has to do is beat Trump in the primaries, especially South Carolina’s on Feb. 24. After that, she’s a shoo-in against the failed Joe Biden in November, while Donald Trump is not.
Can she get that far? Of course she can. Take it from someone who learned the lesson the hard way: Never underestimate Nikki Haley — even against Donald Trump.
Gresham Barrett represented South Carolina’s 3rd congressional district from 2003 to 2011 and ran for governor in 2010.
The Great Awakening may cause a Rude Awakening.