Haley courts New Hampshire voters as campaign momentum builds

NASHUA, N.H. (NewsNation) — As her poll numbers continue to climb, 2024 GOP candidate Nikki Haley is in New Hampshire where she’s holding town halls in Londonderry and Nashua.

Haley spoke Thursday at a diner in the Granite State alongside New Hampshire Republican Gov. Chris Sununu. While Haley mostly stuck to her stump speech and addressed topics ranging from the Middle East to her intention to ban the social media app TikTok, she is making ground in the key primary state.

Former President Donald Trump, however, still holds a commanding lead in the New Hampshire GOP primary polling at 49%. Haley comes in second with 19% followed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Haley is also ahead of DeSantis in the South Carolina primary, where she officially filed paperwork to run in that election.

Haley, who vacated her post as the governor of South Carolina in 2017 to become a United Nations ambassador, suggested that by the state’s Feb. 24 primary, she might be able to beat Trump, who also leads in the state.

A field that began with roughly a dozen candidates is shrinking. Former Vice President Mike Pence ended his bid over the weekend amid lackluster polling numbers and low fundraising totals. Those numbers will only continue to dwindle after the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucus and subsequent New Hampshire primary, Haley said.

With Israel deepening its offensive into Gaza, Haley has positioned herself as a strong candidate on foreign policy. She criticized the Biden administration for loosening sanctions on Iran and emphasized the United States should play only a “supporting role” to Israel. She said she would not have pressed the Israeli government to restore internet communications recently in the Gaza Strip.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.