JD Vance says Trump more electable than Haley, citing ‘baggage’

Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio) made the case Sunday that former President Trump is a more electable candidate than former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, citing the former president’s resiliency after years of media criticism and controversy.

In an interview on “Fox News Sunday,” the Trump campaign surrogate was asked to respond to concerns from voters who say Trump brings “chaos” — an argument Haley makes frequently on the campaign trail.

“My response to that voter would be, Nikki does have baggage. She just hasn’t faced the onslaught of years of media attacks, of super PAC attacks that Donald Trump has faced,” Vance told host Shannon Bream.

“And, frankly, the fact that Trump is still standing and is still leading in the polls against Joe Biden suggests he has real political resilience,” Vance said.

Vance continued making the argument that Haley has simply not faced the same barrage of attacks that Trump has, and he claimed she might not be prepared for what’s coming if she wins the party’s nomination.

“I know a lot of people who are choosing Nikki Haley think she’s the low-baggage candidate. In reality, she’s the candidate the Democrats haven’t teed off on, but they will tee off on her if she’s the nominee,” he said. “She won’t be [the nominee], but if she is, she will face exactly what Donald Trump has faced for the past six years.”

“And I don’t think she’ll survive, and I certainly don’t think she’ll win the presidency through it. That’s why we need to elect the guy who’s shown some resilience. That’s why we need to nominate Donald Trump,” Vance added.

On Tuesday, New Hampshire voters will head to the polls for the first primary election of the 2024 presidential cycle. According to The Hill/Decision Desk HQ’s New Hampshire primary polling average, Trump leads by 11.4 percentage points, with 46.7 percent support compared with Haley’s 35.3 percent support.

Nationally, the polling average puts Trump ahead by 50.7 percentage points, with 63.3 percent support, followed by Haley’s 12.6 percent and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s 10.6 percent support.