On the Trail in South Carolina, Haley Says, ‘Yes, I Am in My Prime’

Nikki Haley’s supporters are fast to repeat a theme that has grow to be central to her marketing campaign: She has been underestimated earlier than.

So when Ms. Haley, the previous South Carolina governor and ambassador to the United Nations, recounted on Thursday night what the previous CNN anchor Don Lemon had mentioned about her throughout a current broadcast, the group of a whole bunch who had gathered to listen to her converse erupted in applause.

Ms. Haley, who has couched her marketing campaign message in a name for “a brand new technology of leaders,” inspired the group to “go away the drama of the previous” behind — a thinly veiled allusion to former President Donald J. Trump’s administration. And he or she repeated her requires time period limits and psychological competency exams for elected leaders, including that she was prepared to be versatile about age ranges.

“We’ve received to be sure that these persons are able to struggle — and I don’t care in case you do it for ages 50 and over,” she informed the group in Greer, within the northwest nook of South Carolina. “As a result of sure, I’m in my prime.”

She added: “God bless Don Lemon. I simply wish to say, ‘Who’s of their prime now?’”

Ms. Haley, 51, was alluding to a second in February when Mr. Lemon mentioned that he was “uncomfortable” about Ms. Haley’s elevating the query of age and psychological competency amongst political leaders.

Ms. Haley “isn’t in her prime, sorry,” Mr. Lemon mentioned. “A girl is taken into account to be in her prime in her 20s and 30s and perhaps 40s.”

Mr. Lemon later apologized for the remarks. He was ousted from CNN final week.

The road resonated specifically with girls within the crowd, and several other attendees mentioned they noticed Ms. Haley’s response to Mr. Lemon as a inventive technique of mentioning — and making enjoyable of — a second of sexism.

But, the vitality that Ms. Haley can seize in a room just like the one in Greer contrasts together with her wrestle to construct nationwide momentum in an more and more crowded Republican main area. She is going to more than likely quickly should take care of the entry of a fellow South Carolinian, Senator Tim Scott, into the race, in addition to with the 2 candidates who’re garnering essentially the most consideration and the majority of the help in polls: Mr. Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida.

After her stump speech, as Ms. Haley greeted supporters and took photographs with them, Rachel Dankel, an actual property agent in her 50s who is predicated in Greenville, S.C., mentioned she had informed Ms. Haley how a lot she appreciated her pushing again on Mr. Lemon’s phrases. When she first heard about his remark, she mentioned, “I wished to throw up.”

“I believed that was, to me, the worst factor that someone might say,” she mentioned. “That’s so degrading. You have got males of their 80s, and so they’re not over — they’re not too previous?”

Ms. Haley, who was the primary Republican presidential candidate to problem Mr. Trump within the present marketing campaign, has aimed to separate herself from the pack by taking early stances on points like age limits amongst political leaders. Final week, she instructed in an interview with Fox Information that President Biden, who’s 80, wouldn’t reside till the tip of his second time period if re-elected.

Ms. Haley has additionally raised cash off Mr. Lemon’s feedback. Her marketing campaign web site sells a beverage koozie that reads: “Previous my prime? Maintain my beer”

Ms. Haley’s marketing campaign is relying on her in-state bona fides — she was a longtime State Home member in a district near the State Capitol and the primary girl to function governor — to bolster her standing within the Palmetto State. The South Carolina main is third on the Republican calendar, after Iowa and New Hampshire, and it’s the Haley marketing campaign’s perception that her home-state citizens will propel her to the highest of the first area.

And whereas she is polling within the low single digits in most nationwide surveys, an April ballot carried out by Winthrop College confirmed her together with her 18 p.c help in her residence state, effectively behind Mr. Trump however inside hanging distance of Mr. DeSantis.

“There’s a sure section on the market that’s very enthusiastic about her working, after which there’s the hard-core Trumpists who’re mad at her for working,” mentioned Chip Felkel, a South Carolina Republican political strategist.

On the rally on Thursday, Christy Willis, 50, a instructor who remains to be undecided about whom she’s going to help in 2024, mentioned she had not heard about Mr. Lemon’s feedback earlier than listening to Ms. Haley repeat them on Thursday on the Cannon Heart, an occasion house. After studying of the context, she mentioned she had discovered the back-and-forth intriguing.

“It does open a dialogue about ageism and sexism and feminism,” she mentioned, referring to Mr. Biden’s age. “He’s allowed to do issues {that a} girl in all probability wouldn’t have the ability to do.”