Haley Campaign Press Release - Haley Endorsed by Conservative Detroit News

Editorial: Our endorsement for the Michigan Republican primary
Online here

Nikki Haley is the type of presidential candidate America says it wants. Younger, focused on the future and not obsessed with litigating past grievances, the Republican is ready to receive the presidential torch on behalf of her generation.

Michigan Republican primary voters should hand it to her on Feb. 27.

The 2024 presidential election should be no place for old men, particularly not if those old men are former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden. Between them, they've given the nation nearly eight years of chaos and division. Do Americans, do Michigan Republicans, really want four more years of that?

Trump is obsessively preoccupied with the perceived wrong done to him in the 2020 presidential balloting, while Biden has only one talking point in this campaign: Trump. Weariness with their combined ineptitude is why roughly two-thirds of voters say they want to see someone other than Trump and Biden on the November ballot.

Meet Nikki Haley. The former South Carolina governor and United Nations ambassador could bring American politics back from the extremes. While a true conservative, Haley is also a pragmatist who understands a divided nation needs a leader willing to compromise and committed to consensus governing.

Her nuanced position on the most contentious issue of the day, abortion, is aimed at producing a solution the maximum number of Americans can support. Rather than an all-or-nothing stance, she favors a policy that would keep abortion legal in those states that want it to be so, while backing the restrictions most people find reasonable.

In the U.N., Haley was tough, standing against the world's worst tyrants. Those bad actors need to understand again the United States is not to be tested.

She appears willing to pull America's head out of the sand on Social Security and Medicare. These essential programs are hurtling toward insolvency, and it is not helpful for political leaders to insist they can't be touched. Haley has the courage to consider raising eligibility ages and selectively reducing benefits.

For those many Republicans who say they don't necessarily like Trump, but they like his policies, Haley is the answer. She embraces tax reform, but unlike Trump, would couple it with steep spending cuts. For all his talk about fiscal responsibility, the former president added roughly $8 trillion to the national debt during his four years.

America can't afford another four years of that, no matter who is president.

Haley would give Republicans a candidate not drenched in drama, and one who is not absolutely abhorrent to a wide swath of the electorate.

Character matters. Trump is not an honorable person; he has no commitment to the truth and is willing to say or do anything to benefit himself. He's shown little respect for the rule of law. His attempts to cling to power after losing the last election reveal his willingness to destroy the nation's institutions rather than admit defeat.

The former president is currently in courtrooms across the country defending himself against actions relating to his effort to cling to an office he lost. Polls indicate Trump's support in the polls would fall off considerably if he's convicted on any of the 91 criminal counts pending against him.

Haley comes without the scandals and without the risk. And despite her struggles in the GOP primaries so far, Haley does better than Trump against Biden in the general election. The latest poll from NBC puts her advantage over the incumbent at 9%, while Trump bests Biden by 5%.

There's nothing villainous about Haley. And she's not in her dotage. That alone should motivate a coalition of Trump-wary Republicans, Democrats fretful about Biden's electability and independents who share their concerns to get behind Nikki Haley.

If they could carry her to victory in the Michigan primary, it might lead to a fulfillment of the electorate's expressed desire to avoid a Trump/Biden rematch this fall.

Defeating Biden with a candidate who can competently lead the nation should be what motivates Michigan primary voters.