GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley on Sunday targeted former President Trump over recent Republican election losses.
In an interview on the inaugural episode of “The Hill Sunday” on NewsNation, Haley said Trump has hurt Republicans’ chances in elections across the country since he was first elected.
“Since Trump took office, since he became president, [Michigan] lost the governorship, they lost the state house, they lost the state Senate from there. I went to Minnesota, the exact same thing happened. I went to Colorado, no Republican has gotten over 45 percnet statewide since Donald Trump became president. You go to Virginia, same thing Glenn Youngkin was able to win governor but he had to keep Donald Trump away from him,” Haley told NewsNation’s Chris Stirewalt.
“This is the fact that everything Donald Trump does, he loses,” she added.
Haley then continued to emphasize that some polls show her leading President Biden in a hypothetical general election match up, arguing that she is the stronger candidate to put forward.
“I defeat Joe Biden by 18 points. This is more than the presidency. It’s House, it’s Senate, it’s governorships at school board. It’s about getting our country back on track because if you go in to D.C. with a double digit win, you go in and you stop the wasteful spending happening by Republicans and Democrats and get our economy back on track,” she said.
When reached for comment on Haley’s remarks, Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung claimed that the primary race is done, pointing to Trump’s previous wins.
“Republican voters have delivered resounding wins for President Trump in every single primary contest and this race is over. Our focus is now on Joe Biden and the general election,” Cheung said.
Haley’s appearance comes just ahead of Super Tuesday, in which 16 states will vote in presidential nominating contests. She’s trailing Trump in double digits but remains his only formidable candidate.
In The Hill/Decision Desk HQ’s polling average of a hypothetical election between Haley and Biden, the former South Carolina governor has a slight lead of nearly 4 percentage points.
NewsNation is owned by Nexstar Media Group, which also owns The Hill.