Derry, NH - On her first visit to New Hampshire in a year and a half, Nikki Haley was laser focused.
"Let me tell you why I'm supporting Matt Movers, the two-time former South Carolina governor who served as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations during the Trump administration, told a crowd of Republican leaders, officials, and activists Packed in Foddy's Tavern, Derry, New Hampshire.
"I don't want someone who can win. I want someone who wins, they're going to prove they deserve to be there. Because when Republicans win in 2022, we have to prove to America." Gotta do what Republicans deserve to be by working there," Haley insisted.
And Haley noted that Mavers — a former campaign operative who worked on Trump's 2016 general election campaign and later served at the State Department during the former president's first two years in office — "knows the bureaucracy in D.C. because He had to work in it. He knows how to fight it. He knows how to cut it... There's not going to be a learning curve for Matt Mowers."
Mowers is one of the top contenders in the crowded and competitive GOP primary area in New Hampshire's First Congressional District, a longtime Premier House swing district that the GOP aims to change from blue to red in the November midterm elections. Is.
The stop in New Hampshire - which was first reported by Fox News last month - is Haley's first stop since October 2020, when she campaigned with Mowers during her first bid for the seat. Mavers won the GOP nomination but lost the general election by five points to Democratic Rep. Republicans see the two-term Pappas as vulnerable as the Democratic incumbent running for re-election.
2022 Watch: @NikkiHaley -in New Hampshire-on why she's backing @mowers in the crowded #GOP primary in #NH01 -a key swing congressional district- "I just don’t want someone who can win. I want someone who when they win, they’re going to prove they deserve to be there" #NHPolitics pic.twitter.com/JtbyD8RwGv
— Paul Steinhauser (@steinhauserNH1) April 4, 2022
When asked by Fox News how Haley's visit would boost her campaign, Mowers pointed to her star power.
"You see the energy here today to see Ambassador Haley support our campaign. And the fact that we're inspiring people and getting attention from these events really makes for a lot of star power. is a testament to what she is lending to our campaign," Movers said.
Haley later helped Movers raise campaign cash on Tuesday at a fundraiser for movers in Salem, New Hampshire. On Tuesday morning she is due to headline a fundraiser for Republicans in the Granite State legislature.
The former governor and ambassador has supported more than 30 Republicans in this cycle through his public advocacy group, the political arm of Stand for America.
The Republican primary in New Hampshire is one of several crowded and controversial GOP demonstrations across the country this year in the House and Senate and governorship races. But Haley argued that "the party is together on border security. The party is together on inflation. The party is together on the fact that we need to keep our kids in school. The party is together that crime is to be reduced." And we have to support our law enforcement... the party comes together on important things."
In addition to being an important general election battleground, New Hampshire won the first presidential race in a century for the White House. And the visit of Haley, who pundits believed to be a possible 2024 GOP presidential candidate, will fuel further speculation about her potential national ambitions.
When asked about 2024, Haley told Fox News, "If we don't win in 2022 there won't be any '24. So we're going around the country to make sure we do."
Regarding her timetable, Haley said, "I don't have to make a decision until the first date of next year. But I can tell you I've never lost a race. I'm not going to start yet. I I will put one thousand percent in it and end it... I am going to fight for this country till my last breath, because I believe in it and I believe that we all have to be part of the solution.