Politics & Government
Haley presents substance, compassion in bid for president
Former governor, U.N. ambassador tries to take control of a growing multi-cultural, non-college Republican coalition and overtake Trump
By Scott Benjamin
DARIEN – Jayme Stevenson, a Republican, sits in a crowded coffee shop along the Post Road in this wealthy town where she was the first selectman from 2011 to 2021. A town that went for Democrat Grover Cleveland in 1888 and didn’t post a plurality for another Democratic presidential candidate until 2016 – Hillary Rodham Clinton, and then in 2020 for Joe Biden.
Stevenson, who ran unsuccessfully for the U.S. House seat in the Fourth District last year, is wearing a crisp, blue sweater with a large “NIKKI” button.
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Right after the college football bowl games, Iowa and then New Hampshire will, as usual, kick off the presidential nomination season. New York Times columnist Michelle Cottle wrote just after Thanksgiving that the next seven weeks will be “critical” in the Republican race.
Connecticut doesn’t hold its primary until April 2. John Morris of Litchfield – the longest serving member of the Republican State Central Committee in Connecticut – says the only GOP presidential campaign organization currently operating in the state is Women For Nikki – as in former South Carolina governor and United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley. Stevenson is the chairwoman.
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For weeks news reports have indicated that she has overtaken or is on the verge of overtaking Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as the biggest challenger to former President Donald Trump – who has a commanding lead according to national polls and those in the early primary and caucus states.
The recent coverage: A headline to a Ross Douthat New York Times column: “Can Nikki Haley Beat Trump?” The sub-headline to a Kimberly Strassel Wall Street Journal column: “She is what the GOP needs to take on Trump and Biden: a conviction politician.”
Republican pollster Patrick Ruffini grew up in nearby Greenwich – a longtime Republican stronghold that now has three Democratic state representatives for the first time in its history. He wrote in his recent book, “Party Of The People” – that the Democrats have become the party of the college-educated.
Perhaps that explains why the Democratic candidate for president now scores victories in upscale Darien and Greenwich.
Ruffini stated that the country is developing into a “super-majority of right-trending voters [which] forms a colorblind, populist coalition, largely united by its working-class roots, moderate to conservative views on policy, strong religious beliefs, and indifference to or outright rejection of the identity politics practiced by the left”. . . And ”for its longevity, [the Republican Party is] a party of non-college educated voters. And as fewer voters attend college, the Republican party shows no signs of stagnation.”
Can Haley capture this multi-racial populist coalition?
Commented Stevenson, “She re-invigorated the manufacturing industry in South Carolina. She knew that we are only as strong as our small business economy.”
“She is pragmatic,” Stevenson added “She has common sense. She honors opposing viewpoints. I love how she messages the abortion issue. I wish I could have been as articulate during my congressional run as she is. She is unapologetically pro-life. Yet, she respects the viewpoints of people who are pro-choice.”
Gary Rose of Sacred Heart University in Fairfield, who recently wrote a book on the Republican Party in Connecticut, stated in an e-mail interview: “I have been very impressed with Nikki’s clarity on a range of hot button issues compared to the other candidates on the debate stage who too often speak in generalities. Her experience in domestic and foreign affairs has really jumped out at me.”
On Social Security and Medicare reform, the National Review reported, “Haley elaborated that such a plan would include raising “the retirement age only for younger people who are just entering the system.” Moreover, the candidate suggested introducing a test to evaluate those in need of such social services, toyed with the idea of raising eligibility requirements to 40-years-old.”
“It makes good common sense,” said Stevenson. “Those are modest changes.”
Former Biden Administration National Economic Council Director Brian Deese and Deputy Director David Kamin recently wrote in The Wall Street Journal that, “The tax system of the 1990s could have financed the government we have today. But two decades of successive unpaid-for tax cuts eroded our nation’s revenue base. Without those tax cuts, federal debt as a share of the economy wouldn’t be projected to rise significantly over the coming decade.”
The Congressional Budget Office tabbed that debt recently at $1.7 trillion for the last fiscal year. From 1998 thro9ugh 2001 the federal government had budget surpluses.
Haley has pointed to more combined accumulative debt under Democratic former President Barack Obama, Trump and Biden than the total debt under the 42 presidents that preceded them.
Stevenson remarked, “She is not afraid to say that Republicans and Democrats have made promises that they couldn’t keep. She wants to claw back the unspent COVID stimulus money. As a town official, I saw that distribution of that $2.2 trillion in COVID stimulus money. All you have to look at is the spending plans and you will see a whole of stuff that has nothing to do with public health and safety.”
“She has no campaign debt,” said Stevenson. “She travels promenade class when she travels. She is at very modest hotels. She is very frugal about her campaign. It speaks volumes to me about how she is going to manage our country.”
Former Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal, who sought the GOP presidential nomination in 2016, and Republican strategist Alex Castellanos wrote in The Wall Street Journal in 2020 that people vote not only on policies but on “emotion.”
“The heart is often wiser than the head. Gifted politicians understand this intuitively and connect with voters on this deeper and less mechanical level,” they stated. “Ronald Reagan swept the country with his feel-good “morning in America” campaign; Bill Clinton won over voters with his scrappy “comeback kid” message; and Barack Obama inspired millions with his promise of “hope and change.”
Stevenson said that Haley connects with voters.
“People are smart,” she said. “They understand the problems and programs that are important to them. What really draws them to a particular candidate is the ability of the candidate to relate to the individuals about things that concern them and those matters of the heart.”
Stevenson said she first became aware of Haley in 2015 when her daughter was attending the College of Charleston and nine Black congregants were killed at a historic Charleston church. Britannia reported that the “murderer admitted to having racist motives and was convicted of hate crimes.”
Haley removed the confederate flag at the state capitol and supported the convicted murderer’s execution.
Said Stevenson, “She reached out to the African-American community. I understood well from my time as an elected official the importance of a leader during a sensitive incident, and she demonstrated that.”
She noted that while Haley is campaigning, ‘She shakes every hand. She takes every question. She is the last person to leave the room.”
At least in Connecticut, Rose has said that suburban women trended more Democratic in the 2018 mid-term election largely because of Trump. He has said that even though Trump wasn’t on the ballot in 2018, he hurt GOP gubernatorial candidate Bob Stefanowski’s chances of winning a “change election” after eight years of Democratic Gov. Dannel Malloy.
“Nikki is doing a phenomenal job with women of all parties,” remarked Stevenson, who co-hosted a fund-raising reception for Haley in May on the same day that Haley keynoted the Connecticut Republican Party’s annual Prescott Bush Dinner.
She added, “There are a number of Democratic women who tell me that they really like Nikki Haley.”
However, Kate Kelly and Rebecca Davis O’Brien wrote recently in The New York Times that, “Even with Ms. Haley’s momentum, halting Mr. Trump’s seemingly inexorable march to the Republican nomination promises to be a slog. With a wide edge in national and early-state polls, the former president is running effectively as an incumbent, with legions of supporters prepared to vote solely for him.”
Stevenson said, “We’re not hearing about his vision.”
“We’re hearing about his personal issues,” she said in an apparent reference to the 91 indictments against Trump.
Stevenson remarked, “I speak to a lot of people who supported Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020 who are ready for someone different. Someone who understands foreign policy and lifts us up globally, but doesn’t disenfranchise us.”
Morris said he was impressed with Haley’s speech at the Bush Dinner this spring. He has not endorsed a candidate in the 2024 presidential race, but said of Trump, “His policies are great. The biggest negative for Trump is his personality.”
He said that presently Trump has a large lead in the polls because voters see the “unfairness” of the indictments.
“He gets indicted and he goes up five points” in the polls, Morris commented.
Rose wrote, “Trump is the front runner because of the very strong populist surge that has appeared within the GOP during the past decade. Populists now and historically have found candidates who empathize with their plight worthy of their support. And populists feel the government is aligned against them. Hence the federal and state indictments are viewed as attacks not just on Trump but also on them personally. Trump is their voice.”
Stevenson insisted there is an avenue for Haley to win the nomination.
“She is closing the gap,” she said. “The field will narrow.”
Stevenson added that “some prominent” Republicans in Connecticut will eventually endorse Haley.
Stevenson has said that female elected officials usually are good listeners, negotiators and multi-takers. Is Haley in that category?
“1,000 percent,” she said.
Stevenson commented, “I haven’t been this excited about a Republican presidential candidate in a long time.”
Resources:
Interview with Jayme Stevenson, Patch.com, Sunday, November 12, 2023
E-mail interview with Gary Rose, Patch.com, Wednesday, November 22, 2023.
E-mail Interview with State Sen. Steve Harding, Patch.com, Monday, November 13, 2023.
Phone Interview with John Morris, Patch.com, Tuesday, November 14, 2023.
Patrick Ruffini, “Party Of The People,” Simon & Schuster, 2023.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/hearts-and-minds-must-be-won-in-concert-never-apart-11608590419
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/18/opinion/nikki-haley-trump-nomination.html
https://www.wsj.com/articles/nikki-haleys-5-inch-heels-presidential-election-gop-debate-edab572f
https://patch.com/connecticut/brookfield/professor-says-lamont-active-positive
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/25/opinion/nikki-haley-ron-desantis-donald-trump.html
https://patch.com/connecticut/brookfield/record-federal-budget-deficit-blumenthal-wants-cut-spending
