amna: We may still be a year
away from the first presidential
primary contests, but the
Republican field is officially
taking shape.
Nikki Haley kicked off her
campaign this week and several
other potential candidates are
eyeing a run.
South Carolina, home to one of
the first primary contests next
year, was in the Republican
spotlight this week.
Ms. Haley: I am running for
president of the United States
of America.
[Applause]
Amna: As former governor Nikki
Haley threw her hat into the
2024 ring.
Ms. Haley: America is not past
our prime, it's just that our
politicians are past theirs.
Amna: The former un ambassador
and daughter of Indian
immigrants offering her party a
new vision of leadership.
Ms. Haley: We're ready.
Ready to move past the stale
ideas and faded names of the
past.
And we are more than ready for a
new generation to lead us into
the future.
Amna: It's a message that could
resonate with Republican voters.
>> Time for new leadership.
Younger leadership as well.
That's what we need.
Amna: More than half of them say
they'll vote for a candidate
other than former president
Donald Trump, according to a new
quinnipiac university poll.
Susan: Go for it.
If you could beat Donald Trump,
I'll be happy.
Amna: While she is the first
Republican to challenge trump
for the nomination, others are
expected to join the fray, with
Florida governor Ron Desantis,
former vice president Mike pence
and South Carolina senator Tim
Scott, among those weighing a
campaign.
Sen. Scott: I'm Tim Scott.
Amna: Scott, who was first
appointed to the senate by Haley
10 years ago, also found himself
in the palmetto state spotlight.
Sen. Scott: The story of America
is not defined by our original
sin.
The story of America is defined
by our redemption.
Amna: Delivering a black history
month speech to the Charleston
Republican party last night.
And testing themes that could be
part of an eventual presidential
campaign.
Sen. Scott: Listen, I understand
being treated as a second-class
citizen because of the color of
my skin.
I refuse, I refuse to be treated
as a second-class citizen
because of the color of my
party.
I'm not playing that game twice.
Amna: Haley ended her first week
as a candidate in New Hampshire,
but she and Scott will cross
paths again soon in another
early GOP contest state, with
both of them planning trips to
Iowa next week.
For a closer look at the 2024
race, Amy Walter of the cook
political report with Amy Walter
is in South Carolina and was at
both Nikki Haley and Tim Scott's
speeches this week.
Always good to see you.
Let's start with the messages we
heard from Tim Scott and Nikki
Haley, talking about a new
generation of leadership,
generational change, drawing
lines that say they are
different from former president
trump but not anti-Trump, what
is the lane they are trying to
occupy?
Amy: That's a good point.
If you look at the Republican
electorate right now, maybe 35%
are locked in with Donald Trump
and are not interested in voting
for any other candida.
Probably 10% are considered
anti-Trump voters, they will
never vote for him.
That leaves a wide swath of
Republican voters who are not
anti-Trump but open to an
alternative and that is a lane
that these candidates want to
try to fit into.
One model of that lane is the
Ron Desantis model that says I'm
going to be a lot like Donald
Trump.
You like Donald Trump for a
reason, because he goes after
the establishment, the elites,
mainstream media, I will be just
like that.
And he's doing pretty well in
the polls right now, at least
the early polls.
What Nikki Haley and Tim Scott
are doing, they are saying
essentially there's not enough
room for me in this lane, the
pugilistic we are going to take
it to the establishment in the
same way.
They are running more as happy
warriors than culture warriors.
If Donald Trump was, as we saw
in his inaugural speech, talking
about American carnage, Nikki
Haley in her speech running for
president was much more reagan-e
sque, more morning in America.
The hope is that Nikki Haley
will make the case that this
more optimistic and aspirational
message,, while still on the
attack, let's be clear, she's
not running as a moderate or
anti-Trump candidate, but she is
suggesting this is a more
electable message.
She says over and over again,
Republicans have lost the
popular vote for president in
seven of the eight last
elections and what she's saying
is you can get a fighter --
she's talked about being a
fighter and underdog, going
after the establishment as a
governor, as a candidate in her
past life, so you can still get
that, but I will bring people
in, bring in those voters turned
off by Donald Trump and may be
turned off by someone like Ron
Desantis.
Amna: How is that happy will
your message landing?
You're watching people and
talking to them about these
messages, did anybody say they
would back Nikki Haley or Tim
Scott for president?
Amy: Trump's shadow is still
long and South Carolina.
We were in Charleston, which is
where I think it would be fair
to say there are a lot of
Republicans here who probably
are not big trump fans or would
be more open to some but he like
Nikki Haley or Tim Scott or
somebody running against Donald
Trump, not just somebody who is
different from Donald Trump.
The real question is whether or
not they will be appealing to
voters, again, just like in any
other state, looking for an
alternative but don't
necessarily want someone who is
all that different.
This aspirational, more
optimistic message, the
reagan-esque message, it's not
been that successful for
Republicans since Donald Trump
came onto the scene at least
during primaries.
We saw this in 2016, we saw it
in 2020 the candidates who won
primaries for governor, for
senate, for congress, ran much
more like Donald Trump than like
Nikki Haley or Tim Scott.
The appetite may not be there.
Amna: Both candidates are from
South Carolina and both
candidates of color.
Once on much of the party
messaging right now seems to be
pushing back on the idea of a
more diverse America, decrying
the so-called "Woke'agenda, how
do these candidates fit into
that?
Amy: It was fascinating, they
did not use the term woke at
all, they said look at me and my
family, how can we be a country
that doesn't offer the prospect
of achieving success when I've
been able to do all of these
things?
My family has been able to
succeed because we are a country
, as Nikki Haley says, we need
to stop our self-loathing is her
way of talking about that.
Trying to really lean in,
instead of grievance, leaning
into aspiration.
Amna: Amy Walter, joining us
tonight from South Carolina.
Always good to see you.
Amy: Great to see you, thank
you.
♪♪