Nikki Haley, the former ambassador to the United Nations and governor of South Carolina was in Richmond Tuesday to campaign and raise money for Republican gubernatorial candidate Glenn Youngkin.
Speaking from the Richmond campaign office for the Youngkin campaign Tuesday afternoon, Haley touted the former Carlyle Group CEO and talked about how she believes Youngkin’s experience with that company will benefit Virginia if he were to be elected. “He is a business guy. He has spent his entire career making sure he knew the value of a dollar but also negotiating deals,” Haley said. “He is getting ready to negotiate a lot of deals for the people of Virginia, I can promise you that.”
She also touted his faith and said that he understands Virginians because of his unique perspective from being a political outsider. “He told me, ‘you know I have never held a political position before’ and I told him ‘that is what is going to make you good,’” Haley told the crowd.
Haley served two terms as South Carolina’s governor before becoming the UN ambassador for the Trump administration. Now she is a potential frontrunner for the 2024 Republican nomination for president.
She hit each campaign talking point head-on by addressing Critical Race Theory, criminal justice measures, and culture wars. “There is no grey here. What you are going to see with Glenn Younkin is he is going to choose the police over the criminals,” Haley said. “He is going to choose small business owners over trial lawyers. He is going to choose your children over the teachers union. He is going to get rid of every ounce of these culture wars that are trying to divide us.”
In addition to the rally at Youngkin’s campaign office Tuesday afternoon, Haley attended a fundraiser in Chesterfield County. According to an individual that attended the event, it was announced more than $100K was raised during the fundraiser.
Youngkin is facing Democratic nominee Terry McAuliffe and Independent candidate Princess Blanding in the race to be Virginia’s next governor. McAuliffe served as governor from 2014 to 2018 but was barred from seeking reelection in 2017 due to the one-consecutive term-limit rule in Virginia. Blanding is an educator and political activist.
McAuliffe has a slight lead in the very limited polling that has been publicly released.
You can listen to the audio of Haley and Youngkin’s speech at the Richmond rally by subscribing to our daily political newsletter.
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[…] Youngkin has accepted Trump’s endorsement but has not campaigned with him, though Democrats are trying to goad the former president to make an appearance in the state. Youngkin has, however, campaigned with prominent members of the previous administration, including former Vice President Mike Pence and former Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley. […]