Presidential candidate Nikki Haley saw her momentum badly damaged in Iowa, and now she’s taking a high-risk, high-reward approach to New Hampshire.
Haley is refusing another one-on-one debate against rival candidate Ron DeSantis. For the rest of the primary season, Haley will attend attend a debate only if former President Donald Trump is also present.
The South Carolina Republican made the announcement in a statement Tuesday.
“We’ve had five great debates in this campaign,” Haley said in a statement, released as she campaigned in New Hampshire.
“Unfortunately, Donald Trump has ducked all of them. He has nowhere left to hide. The next debate I do will either be with Donald Trump or with Joe Biden. I look forward to it.”
Haley clarified her announcement during a Tuesday appearance on CNN. “If he’s [Trump] on that stage, I’m there,” Haley said.
She debated DeSantis one-on-one earlier this month, and she underperformed expectations. More than a dozen times she referenced a campaign-run website that several caucusgoers said had seemed repetitive and caught Haley in a bout of “name calling” that was off-putting.
Haley, the former governor of South Carolina, eventually finished third in the Iowa caucus. She was about two points behind DeSantis.
On X, DeSantis said Haley “is afraid to debate because she doesn’t want to answer the tough questions.” He accused her of “running to be Trump’s VP” and said that he looked “forward to debating two empty podiums in the Granite State this week.”
Take a look —
Nikki Haley is afraid to debate because she doesn’t want to answer the tough questions such as how she got rich off Boeing after giving them millions in taxpayer handouts as governor of South Carolina.
The reality is that she is not running for the nomination, she’s running to…
— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantis) January 16, 2024
Nikki Haley hints that she'd only attend Thursday's Republican debate if Donald Trump also attends. pic.twitter.com/mtPuB0dAn3
— MSNBC (@MSNBC) January 16, 2024
In her statement, Haley focused more on Trump than DeSantis. Previously, Haley served under Trump as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
Trump spokesman Steven Cheung on Tuesday called Haley a “desperate globalist who wants higher taxes, open borders, and China to dominate the United States,” He added, “That’s why the only people who are voting for her are Democrats who are trying to interfere in a Republican primary.”
For the last year, the former president has skipped every debate. However, the Trump campaign has remained silent on the former president’s plans for the next debate.
Meanwhile, reporters have been following Haley around Iowa to ask whether she would commit to participating in Thursday’s debate, hosted by ABC and WMUR-TV at Saint Anselm College.
A spokesman for ABC News said that the debate hosts had given Trump and Haley a 5 p.m. ET deadline to commit to attending.
New Hampshire Republican Party Chairman Chris Ager told AP on Tuesday that invitations had been extended to both Haley and Trump to join DeSantis on stage for the debate.
“We would love to see them all,” he told the outlet in a text message. “People in NH expect to see a local debate. Candidates who skip do so at their own risk.”
The Horn editorial team and the Associated Press contribtued to this article.