Campaign Report
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Campaign Report
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More bad signs for Haley in South Carolina
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Nikki Haley’s battling to cut into Donald Trump’s overwhelming lead before the first-in-the-South GOP primary in her home state.
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© AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall
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Haley immediately turned her attention to her home state following the New Hampshire primary last month and has regularly visited for weeks, but she still trails the front-runner by a significant margin.
Trump led Haley in a Winthrop University poll released Wednesday of likely South Carolina primary voters by 36 points, 64.9 percent to 28.7 percent. The poll found a significant drop in Haley’s favorability rating in the Palmetto State as she has emerged as the last major candidate opposing Trump for the nomination.
Pollsters found that Haley’s favorability rating among Republicans stood at 56 percent, down from above 70 percent in November, while the percentage viewing her unfavorably rose in that time from 16 percent to 33 percent.
The poll’s results are largely in line with other surveys of the critical race ahead of the primary next Saturday. Trump leads Haley by almost 35 points in the state in the average from The Hill/Decision Desk HQ polls.
Trump, who has largely turned his attention to a general election matchup against President Biden already, held a rally in North Charleston on Wednesday, just 10 days before the primary. The event included
Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), a former GOP presidential candidate who has endorsed Trump.
Scott has also been rumored as a possible choice for Trump’s running mate as he has become a major surrogate for the campaign.
Haley, while serving as governor of South Carolina, appointed Scott to his Senate seat. Her campaign posted a mobile billboard outside the Wednesday rally criticizing Trump’s comments on veterans and soldiers.
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Welcome to The Hill’s Campaign Report, we’re Julia Mueller and Jared Gans. Each week we track the key stories you need to know to stay ahead of the 2024 election and who will set the agenda in Washington.
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Key election stories and other recent campaign coverage:
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Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley will participate in a town hall with Fox News to air Sunday, in which she will discuss voter issues and her campaign strategy in her home state of South Carolina, Fox News announced Thursday. The town hall in Columbia, S.C., will be presented by Fox News’s John Roberts — the current co-anchor of “America Reports” — and will air at 5 p.m. Sunday on Fox News Channel …
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Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) on Thursday floated Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) and former Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) as two possible running mates in response to a question about his his top choices for a hypothetical third-party ticket for the White House. In a conversation at the City Club of Cleveland, Manchin said he did not have any intention to run for office at this moment, but he did not rule out that prospect entirely. “So …
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Giffords, a national gun violence prevention organization, bashed former President Trump on Thursday for ignoring the deadly shooting after the Kansas City Chiefs’ Super Bowl parade. In a statement first provided to The Hill, Giffords argued that Trump, in his speech in South Carolina, aligned himself with the National Rifle Association (NRA) instead of condemning the shooting. “All of Kansas City is grieving after a joyous …
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Upcoming news themes and events we’re watching:
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- 9 days until the South Carolina Republican primary
- 19 days
until Super Tuesday
- 263 days until the general election
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RNC wades into Michigan GOP turmoil
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Republicans in Michigan voted last month to oust Kristina Karamo as head of the state party after a controversial tenure rife with discord and debt — but she’s since insisted that she’s still in control, throwing the Great Lakes State’s GOP into internal turmoil.
After weeks of the power struggle, the Republican National Committee (RNC) officially weighed in
to affirm that Karamo was removed from her role — and to recognize former Rep. Pete Hoekstra (R-Mich.) as the new party chair.
Trump endorsed Karamo in her midterm bid for secretary of state in Michigan, but backed Hoekstra to rise to the chair position amid the dispute.
“Both the RNC and our Party’s presumptive nominee Donald Trump, have now come forward and recognized me as the duly elected Chair of the Michigan Republican Party,” Hoekstra said in a post on X.
He said “it’s time” for Karamo to “join the fight to re-elect Donald Trump,” pointedly calling her “the former Chair.”
But Karamo is digging her heels in.
“The Michigan Republican Party will continue to move forward under the leadership of the Karamo administration, and Kristina Karamo will continue serving as the duly elected Chairwoman,” the state party told The Hill in a statement.
On Feb. 27, Michigan will host its presidential primaries as Republicans seek to win the battleground state in November — but the chaos within the state party has raised questions about whether they’ll be ready to be competitive in key 2024 races.
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Branch out with a different read from The Hill:
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Former President Trump criticized President Biden late Wednesday ahead of his trip to East Palestine, Ohio, roughly a year after a train derailment spilled toxic chemicals in the community. “Biden should have gone there a long time ago — for him to go now is an insult to those who live and work in East Palestine, and the Great State of Ohio, itself. I can’t believe anyone wants him there?” Trump wrote on Truth Social. …
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Former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan (R) is leading or tied with his top two potential Democratic challengers in the Maryland Senate race, according to a poll released Thursday. The Emerson College Polling/The Hill/DC News Now survey found Hogan leading Prince George’s County Executive Angela Alsobrooks (D) in a hypothetical match-up at 44 percent to 37 percent among registered Maryland voters, with 19 percent undecided. When …
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Local and state headlines regarding campaigns and elections:
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- Why replacing Biden with Newsom or some ‘mythical perfect Democrat’ is unlikely (Los Angeles Times)
- Trump tells SC voters Nikki Haley will never be VP as he gushes over Tim Scott (The Post and Courier)
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Election news we’ve flagged from other outlets:
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- They know Haley’s chances against Trump, but they’re voting for her anyway (The New York Times)
- Crypto attorney weighs challenging Warren (Politico
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- Democrats look to Nebraska to shore up Biden’s blue wall (The Washington Post)
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Key stories on The Hill right now:
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A longtime friend of Fulton County (Ga.) District Attorney Fani Willis (D) testified Thursday that Willis began a “romantic” relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade in 2019 — three years prior to when Willis and Wade said they started seeing each other. Robin Yeartie, a college friend of Willis’s, said the prosecutors’ …
Read more
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Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) wanted to talk about Ukraine and the need to stand up to Russian aggression before taking any questions from The Hill during a Wednesday interview. The veteran Senate GOP leader, a day removed from what he saw as a significant victory in the Senate’s passage of aid to Ukraine and Israel, said … Read more
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Opinions related to campaigns and elections submitted to The Hill:
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You’re all caught up. See you next time!
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