Muted Cheers at the Haley Party

 

Julie HoOpinion Editorial Assistant, reporting from Concord, N.H.

https://www.nytimes.com/live/2024/01/11/opinion/briefing

 

Muted Cheers at the Haley Party

The scant Nikki Haley backers at her postprimary party tonight were well aware they were surrounded by political tourists taking selfies and murmuring among themselves. Haley came in second, and it’s tough to generate a lot of cheers in those circumstances. But her supporters still managed to rev up some intermittent “Nikki, Nikki” chants as the numbers rolled in.

 

“I am hopeful, I think?” said 27-year-old Kate, who asked me not to use her last name and was perhaps the most ardent Haley supporter in the very loosely packed hotel ballroom in Concord, just minutes before The Associated Press called the race for Donald Trump. “It would be a sad state of affairs if she lost.”

 

But she did lose. Now if it comes down to a Trump versus Biden rematch, Kate said she plans to write in Haley’s name, unless Haley decides to endorse Trump. Though Kate’s expectations were muted by the time she arrived to await the results, she was resolute in her diagnosis of what ailed America and why she believed Haley was the right person to give the nation a fresh start.

 

“The country focuses too much on the social issues, on the left and the right, and not enough on the things that matter, like affordable housing and the economy,” Kate said. “Nikki can move the country to the center.”

 

She was standing at the front of the room with two friends, Sheena and Bri, who were also cautiously hopeful, staring anxiously at the big screen for the numbers to flip in Haley’s favor, which never happened.

 

In her speech, Haley promised that “we are just getting started.” Did they find her words invigorating after a second-place finish? The friends said it was satisfying just to hear Haley excited enough to keep going.

 

The few dozen or so supporters on the floor managed to sustain some mildly jubilant cheers around us. If 2024 turns out not to be Haley’s year, they will wait until 2028 to support her again.

 

“Obviously it would have been better if she won,” said Kate.