Nikki Haley’s missed opportunity

How race and identity are shaping politics, policy and power.

Feb 21, 2023 View in browser   By Brakkton Booker With help from Jesús Rodríguez, Jesse Naranjo, Lisa Kashinsky, Ella Creamer, Rishika Dugyala and Teresa Wiltz Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley speaks to voters at a town hall campaign event, Monday, Feb. 20, 2023, in Urbandale, Iowa. | POLITICO illustration/Photo by AP What up, Recast family! President Joe Biden makes first visit to Ukraine nearly a year into its conflict with Russia, Big Tech’s big week before the Supreme Court and prayers up for ex-President Jimmy Carter. First we focus on Nikki Haley’s uneven presidential rollout.    Former U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley survived her first full week of navigating life as a presidential hopeful. Her tour of early voting states continues with a town hall in Marion, Iowa, Tuesday evening, after spending her first days on the trail in New Hampshire and in Charleston, S.C., where she held a throwback campaign launch reminiscent of an era that predated Donald Trump. She has drawn praise and media attention for one-liners like this one about bullies: “When you kick back, it hurts them more if you’re wearing heels.” She also expertly boomeranged a dig at her proposal for mental competency tests for candidates 75 years of age and older, elevating both her campaign and blasting CNN anchor Don Lemon in the process. Twitter Haley has yet to define what her candidacy is about, why she’s running, or how she plans to deliver on the initial promise from her video announcement where she says it was time for a new generation of the Republican Party. “The bigger challenge for Ms. Haley is identifying the rationale for her candidacy beyond a winning persona,” The Wall Street Journal editorial board summed up last week. So far, the former South Carolina governor has missed two opportunities to differentiate herself before the field widens and her star turn at the center of the 2024 media circus wanes: staking a claim on race and the GOP and her stance on abortion following the Supreme Court striking down Roe v. Wade. We focused on Haley’s complicated racial dance extensively last week, but it’s important to note she has not veered off her scripted lines during a stop in Manchester, N.H.: “I was elected the first female minority governor in the country,” she said. “We are not a racist country. We are a blessed country.” Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley, right, greets voters at a town hall campaign event, Thursday, Feb. 16, 2023, in Exeter, N.H. | Robert F. Bukaty/AP Photo Haley, 51, was born and raised in South Carolina to parents who immigrated to the U.S. from India. “It is necessary for her to thread that needle and tell the story of her life,” says Republican strategist Deana Bass Williams, who served as communications director for Ben Carson’s 2016 presidential campaign. “Conservatives will have to be OK with her saying that her worldview has been framed, in some part, because of who she is ethnically. And I don't see why that is so outrageous,” Williams adds, noting that Haley’s worldview has allowed her to rise to the highest levels of government. While Haley eschews expounding on race, she seems to be more comfortable wading into culture wars. “I'm a mother of two children, one who's getting married, and I see how hard it is for her to look at buying a home; one that’s in college, and I see what he's dealing with with woke education,” Haley said in an interview with Fox News Sunday. Steering clear of identity politics and leaning into her “impressive biography” is the right choice for Haley, says Alice Stewart who has worked on a number of Republican presidential campaigns including those of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in 2008 and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz in 2016. Haley, “doesn’t have the need to rely on the crutch of identity politics,” Stewart says. Meanwhile, Haley so far has tiptoed around another issue roiling the American electorate: abortion. She made no mention of it during her rally in South Carolina — where last week the South Carolina House passed a near-total abortion ban about a month after the state Supreme Court permanently struck down a similar provision. Nor has she addressed it in a meaningful way on the campaign trail. In an interview with NBC last week she was questioned whether she supported Sen. Lindsey Graham’s legislative proposal banning abortions at 15 weeks gestation. She responded: “We need consensus on this,” but said she would not support “a full out federal ban. … I think if we’re looking at 15 weeks, what we need to understand is we are not OK with abortion up until the time of birth. And so we should decide when is it OK.” Twitter In 2016, Haley signed a 20-week abortion ban, with some exceptions, during her tenure as governor. But her current stance on the issue may not help her with Republican voters she needs to woo during the primary. “I think, in the Republican primary, when you're seeking out the Republican base of support, the more you can tout your support for the sanctity of life, the better,” Stewart, a GOP strategist who is not working on any 2024 campaigns, tells The Recast. “There are certain issues based on the circumstances that it is understandable to evolve. But protecting life is not one of them.” It is still early, but for now, some who count abortion as a top-tier issue view Haley as the most compassionate conservative candidate — both declared and those mulling a run — in the 2024 field. “I do think Nikki Haley’s got it down exactly. I think she truly comes from a place of love and care and concern for women and children,” says Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of the Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America. Dannenfelser, whose group has yet to endorse any Republican candidate, adds that Haley is doing a far better job talking about the issue than her former boss, Donald Trump, and since he’s the only other declared GOP candidate, that may be enough. As always, we’ll be watching to see how this all plays out. All the best, The Recast Team   Power dynamics are changing. With The Recast, you'll get a twice-weekly breakdown of how race and identity are the DNA of American politics and policy. Was this forwarded to you by a friend? Subscribe to the newsletter here.   THE NUMBERS GAME A slim plurality of Black U.S. adults — 36 percent — believes society has “not gone far enough” in accepting transgender people, according to a new report compiled on the views of Black people on gender from Pew Research Center. Thirty-one percent of the 799 Black Americans surveyed believed that society’s acceptance of trans people has “been about right,” while 29 percent believed it has “gone too far.” Compared with all U.S. adults, Black Americans were about 9 percentage points less likely to say acceptance of transgender people has gone too far. The data on transgender rights, drawn from a larger survey of 10,188 adults in May 2022, provides a rare statistical glimpse into how Black Americans’ views on LGBTQ issues are evolving — with many keenly aware of how certain members of the community can be doubly marginalized. The report was compiled from four separate surveys conducted by Pew between 2019 and 2022 to provide one of the most comprehensive analyses of Black people’s attitudes on gender equality. Multiple Republican-controlled state governments have, in recent months, advanced legislation aimed at curtailing the rights of transgender Americans — for instance, by prohibiting minors from receiving certain treatment as part of their medical transitions. Almost exactly one year ago, on Feb. 22, Texas’ Republican Gov. Greg Abbott directed the state’s youth protection agency to launch inquiries into parents and medical providers who help transgender youth medically transition. The Pew study also found that more than a third of Black conservatives are “extremely” or “very” concerned about discrimination against LGBTQ people, and that nearly 6 in 10 Black adults believe it is important for organizations that advocate for Black equality to also address the distinctive challenges that Black LGBTQ people face.   ICYMI @ POLITICO Mitchell is a judge in the Dane County Circuit Court and the chief of the juvenile court division. | Matt Roth Wisconsin Supremes — Voters in Wisconsin head to the polls to select from a field of four candidates running to sit on the state’s highest court. Check out this profile from POLITICO Magazine on one of those candidates, Judge Everett Mitchell, who hopes to advance to the nonpartisan general election in early April. Big Tech vs. The High Court — The multitrillion-dollar tech industry is girding itself for a consequential case before the Supreme Court. As POLITICO’s Rebecca Kern explains, the court could eventually rule that tech giants are liable for recommending harmful content on their platforms. Harris Calls Out Russia — As the Russian invasion of Ukraine approaches the one-year mark, Vice President Kamala Harris declared during a security conference in Munich that Russia has committed crimes against humanity. POLITICO’s Alex Ward has more.   THE RECAST RECOMMENDS In Joseph Earl Thomas’ coming-of-age memoir, “Sink,” geek culture is a refuge against an otherwise threatening world. Spend some time with the images and stories of Shinnecock photographer Jeremy Dennis. “Return to Seoul,” in cinemas now, follows 25-year-old French adoptee Freddie as she attempts to reconnect with her biological parents in South Korea. Jaden Smith is “Still in Love” as he roams the streets of London under a pink sky. The final season of “Snowfall” begins at 10 p.m. tomorrow on FX. Lead actor Damson Idris takes you through his various obsessions, from “Def Comedy Jam,” to FIFA, to his mother’s beef stew. Bad Bunny drops a video for “Ojitos Lindos,” and it’s an emotional rollercoaster: The singer goes on several dates, gets into a car accident and then meets his true love, a beagle. Phew! TikTok of the Day: Teenage phase   Follow us on Twitter Brakkton Booker @brakktonbooker Rishika Dugyala @rishikadugyala Teresa Wiltz @teresawiltz Jesús Rodríguez @jesusrodriguezb Jesse Naranjo @jesselnaranjo   Follow us

To change your alert settings, please log in at https://www.politico.com/_login?base=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.politico.com/settings This email was sent to rouf@idiot.cloudns.cc by: POLITICO, LLC 1000 Wilson Blvd. Arlington, VA, 22209, USA Please click here and follow the steps to unsubscribe.