URBANDALE, Iowa – Former U.N Ambassador and South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley made her first stop in Iowa following her presidential campaign announcement a week ago. At an event hosted by the Dallas County Republican Party at Royal Flooring in Urbandale, Haley, 51, said it was time to “send a badass Republican woman to the White House.”
She was introduced by Gov. Kim Reynolds who did not endorse her, but said she looked forward to introducing all of the candidates to Iowa. Haley later said that Reynolds was the nation’s best governor.
Haley also told the crowd that it was time to stop complaining about the Biden administration and the direction of the country and to instead focus on solutions.
Haley said it was time for Congress to balance the budget. “If I, as governor of South Carolina, can balance the budget, if you can balance a budget, Congress needs to balance the budget,” she said.
She also said it was time to get rid of earmarks that represent giveaways of millions of taxpayer dollars to special interest projects. Haley advocated opening up energy production.
Haley praised Iowa’s recent school choice bill. “We have to have school choice all over this country,” she said. Haley also said it was time to promote and expand vocational tech so students can see they don’t need to go to college to have a good job.
She promoted congressional term limits and competency tests for elected officials over the age of 75.
Haley also said it was time to secure the border and expand e-verify. “Every state is a border state,” she said.
She promoted merit-based immigration and said she would not be willing to address DACA for children of illegal immigrants until Congress first passed immigration reform.
When asked during the question and answer session why someone should vote for her instead of former President Donald Trump, Haley said, “I don’t think you have to be 80 years old to be in D.C.”
“Trump is my friend, he was the right person at the right time and he broke the things that needed to be broken,” she added stating that it was time to move forward.
Watch her full remarks in the video above. Watch her Q&A session in the video below:
