Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley showed confidence in her primary challenge to former President Trump on Monday, saying Trump is “getting nervous” about her rising support in early polls, citing a new ad targeting her.
“Two days ago, Donald Trump denied our surge in New Hampshire existed. Now, he’s running a negative ad against me,” she said on X, formerly Twitter. “Someone’s getting nervous.”
Monday’s ad buy from Make America Great Again Inc. — Trump’s primary supporting PAC — is the first going after Haley directly.
The ad, released Tuesday, slams Haley for appearing to go back on a 2013 South Carolina gubernatorial campaign promise to not raise the gas tax. Her campaign denied that she ever supported raising the South Carolina gas tax while governor.
PolitiFact labeled the gas tax claims “mostly false.” Haley did advocate for raising the gas tax in 2015, but only alongside a cut in the income tax. Her proposal did not pass.
The buy is targeted to New Hampshire, where the former ambassador has surged in recent weeks, surpassing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for second place in polls and becoming the first candidate to near striking distance of reaching Trump’s lead.
Haley has about 23 percent support in the Granite State, according to The Hill/Decision Desk HQ average of polls, compared to Trump’s 45 percent support. That margin, while large, is the closest of any candidate to the former president in any early primary state.
Her campaign took the negative attention from Trump as a compliment.
“Donald Trump’s false attack ad sends a loud and clear message: Nikki Haley is surging and Trump is scared,” campaign spokesperson Olivia Perez-Cubas said in a statement. “If Trump wants to talk about how he supported a 25-cent gas tax increase, he can show up to the Iowa debate on January 10.”
The New Hampshire primary is just more than a month away, on Jan. 23.