Exclusive — Haley to DeSantis: ‘Welcome to the race, we’ve been waiting’

DUBUQUE, Iowa — GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley has a message for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R): “Welcome to the race. We’ve been waiting.”

Haley, in an exclusive on-camera interview with The Hill at a campaign stop on the banks of the Mississippi, added, “I’m glad that he’s going to be out there, because I want the American people to see who they’re choosing from.”

Haley was reacting to news reports that the Florida governor would finally officially enter the presidential race next week.

Haley, a former South Carolina governor and United Nations ambassador, has been running for president since February and has at times jabbed other potential candidates for their reticence to enter the race.

Haley has one similarity with DeSantis, however — she too is more than willing to plunge into the most contentious battles in the culture wars.

In her interview with The Hill, for example, she doubled down on her call for New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) to pardon Daniel Penny, the Marine veteran charged with second-degree manslaughter in the killing of Jordan Neely.

Neely, a homeless man with apparent mental health issues, was put in a fatal chokehold by Penny on a New York subway train May 1, reportedly after behaving in an unruly manner. It’s unclear whether Neely was acting violently. The city’s medical examiner deemed the death a homicide.

“He went into that mode to defend and protect,” Haley said of Penny. “And if we start putting people like him in jail, you won’t have anyone go in and protect anyone going forward. This was a man trying to save other Americans. We should be thanking him.”

Asked about the possibility of Penny facing no legal consequence at all, Haley shot back:

“Why would you go to a former Marine and not trust him, not give him the benefit of the doubt, not ask what happened? … He immediately was trying to protect the people around him. And look at what suffering he’s having to do because of that,” she said.

As the only female candidate in the race, Haley has staked out a more nuanced position than some on abortion. While she signed a 20-week ban on abortion as governor of South Carolina, she does not currently back a full federal ban.

Pressed on whether she would back such a ban if it were politically possible, she contended: “It’s not realistic.”

”The idea that a Republican president is going to go ban all abortions is not true,” she said. “So I think we have to be honest with the American people, not scare them, but tell them the truth and let them know exactly what is truly debatable and what’s not.”

Haley has struggled to make progress in national polls but is betting that heavy campaigning in this first caucus state will pay dividends: By Friday, she will have held 22 campaign events in Iowa.

She slapped back at doubters of her own candidacy in her Hill interview, denying any suggestion that her actual motive for running is to raise her profile as a likely vice presidential pick for any other candidate.

“I don’t play for second; I’ve never played for second. I’m doing this to win it. I’m doing this to go and save our country,” she said.

Although the charge of “running to be vice president” is leveled more often at female candidates than male candidates, Haley declined to be drawn on whether the charge is sexist.

“I don’t know what the reason is. And I don’t worry about what the reason is. But being underestimated has been a blessing for me, because it makes me scrappy,” she said. “And so, I don’t care why people dismiss me. I enjoy the moment when I can prove them wrong.”