Nikki Haley’s home state edge?
David Mark
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The South Carolina Republican primary has often proved pivotal in deciding who emerges as the GOP presidential nominee. Presidents Ronald Reagan, George W. Bush, and Donald Trump, and Republican nominees Bob Dole and John McCain, each effectively clinched their campaigns in the Palmetto State, a contest that traditionally runs third in the nominating process, after the Iowa Caucuses and New Hampshire Primary.
This, in theory, gives former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley an advantage in her quest for the 2024 Republican nomination. Haley, ambassador to the UN for nearly two years in the Trump administration after her 2011-17 governorship, campaigned in Gilbert, South Carolina, on April 6.
NIKKI HALEY CONFIDENT SHE CAN DEFEAT TRUMP
Haley’s rally in the central South Carolina community, a Columbia suburb, comes as she tried to rise from single digits in the polls. It’s also a reminder of the potential home state edge an early South Carolina primary brings. Similarly, a potential advantage in the New Hampshire primary would go to the Granite State governor, Chris Sununu, if he joins the GOP fray.
Haley, though, hardly has South Carolina to herself. A declared rival for the 2024 GOP nomination, “anti-woke” biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, testified before a state House legislative committee in support of legislation to prevent South Carolina pension systems from making investments based on social and political causes like climate change.
Ramaswamy testified before the Business and Commerce Subcommittee of the South Carolina House Labor, Commerce, and Industry Committee. The cable television fixture is expected to campaign heavily in South Carolina going forward, along with other early-voting states in GOP caucuses and primaries.
Asa is running
Mark your calendars: Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson is set to officially announce his bid for the Republican presidential nomination on April 26, in Bentonville, Arkansas. Hutchinson made clear in an ABC News interview, aired April 2, that he’s a candidate.
“I’m convinced that people want leaders that appeal to the best of America and not simply appeal to our worst instincts,” a none-too-subtle jab at Trump, who has spawned many GOP imitators in the populist-nationalist mold.
Hutchinson is more of a throwback to the Reagan era. With a happy warrior approach to public life, Hutchinson made a name for himself early in his four-and-a-half-year House career as a manager in President Bill Clinton’s Senate impeachment trial.
On the legislative front, the conservative Hutchinson worked with House Democrats on some criminal justice measures. And when his nomination to head the Drug Enforcement Agency by President George W. Bush stalled due to a Democratic takeover of the Senate majority, Hutchinson won support for the position from an ideological foe. Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), once a Clinton impeachment sparring partner, spoke up on Hutchinson’s behalf.
The Senate did confirm Hutchinson, and he went on to be undersecretary of Homeland Security for border and transportation security. After losing a 2006 Arkansas governor bid, Hutchinson won the office in 2014, on his second try, and held power for eight years.
Hutchinson is to date the most explicitly anti-Trump Republican running for the GOP presidential nomination. The move could look either prescient or foolish, depending if Trump’s political standing wanes among Republicans after being indicted in New York by the Manhattan district attorney on business fraud charges.
Mike (Pompeo) is a maybe
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has spawned questions about whether he’ll run for the GOP presidential nomination in 2024, due to his recent conspicuous silence. A longtime and vocal critic of China’s communist regime, Pompeo had little to say after a recent House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing blasting TikTok as a national security threat.
But Pompeo recently reemerged in Ukraine. During Pompeo’s April 3 visit, “the Secretary saw firsthand the struggle of the Ukrainian people as they work to repel Russian aggression and rebuild their nation,” per a statement by his political organization, CAVPAC, short for “Champion American Values.”
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“Secretary Pompeo concluded his visit by meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky,” per the CAVPAC statement. “The Secretary’s visit to Ukraine underlined that continued American support for Ukraine is in our country’s vital national interest.”
Pompeo is among several prominent Republicans still eyeing the 2024 race but who have not jumped in, along with former Vice President Mike Pence, and ex-New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.