Christie’s Most Committed New Hampshire Allies Not Sold on Haley

Des Moines, Iowa — Polls suggest most of former New Jersey governor Chris Christie’s New Hampshire supporters will now flock to Nikki Haley, but some of his most ardent allies tell National Review they’re not ready to get behind the former U.S. ambassador to the U.N. — and may never be.

Haley has level-set expectations in Iowa, where plummeting temperatures and a massive snow storm are expected to reduce event turnout as candidates make their final pitch before the caucuses on Monday, freezing the race in place with Haley trailing former president Donald Trump by a significant margin. The former South Carolina governor is banking on riding her recent momentum in the Granite State to an upset victory over Trump.

Christie’s decision to drop out of the race on Wednesday certainly bolsters that plan, though it remains to be seen whether ex-Christie voters will provide the boost she needs to surpass the former president in New Hampshire’s January 23 open primary.

His announcement comes as especially welcome news to anti-Trump Republicans in New Hampshire who put immense public and private pressure on the former New Jersey governor to drop out. They cited Trump’s narrowing lead in New Hampshire, with one CNN/University of New Hampshire poll released Tuesday suggesting Haley trails the former president by just seven points. That same survey had Christie at 12 percent support — enough to potentially close that gap if the former South Carolina governor can continue to build on her momentum, though other surveys suggest Trump’s lead is much larger.

Sixty-five percent of the self-professed Christie voters surveyed in that poll say Haley is their second choice. Another Suffolk University poll released Tuesday pegged that number a little lower, at around 48 percent.

“My first choice was Chris Christie. He is out and I’m behind Nikki fully, no question in my mind,” says Norm Olsen, a steering committee member from Portsmouth.

But not all of Christie’s most ardent supporters are ready to punch their tickets for the Haley train. Three other Christie steering committee members interviewed by National Review on Thursday — all of whom were shocked by Christie’s decision to drop — say they are on the fence about supporting the former South Carolina governor, with many of them adding that family members, colleagues, and longtime friends in Haley world are already reaching out asking for their support.

“I’m not considering Governor Haley at all,” says Christie steering committee member and former New Hampshire GOP chairman Wayne MacDonald. “She’s definitely not on my on my short list, even though the list is pretty short right now.”

Those in the “no” and “maybe” camp say they are primarily bothered by Haley’s refusal to say whether she would serve as Trump’s vice president if asked. Others cited concerns over Haley’s decision to raise her hand on the debate stage in August when candidates were asked if they’d support Trump should he be convicted of one of the many felonies he’s been charged with.

That some Christie supporters have been slow to warm to Haley is unsurprising given how recently he dropped out and how outspoken he was about his disagreements with Trump. Former Christie steering committee member Tom Boucher, who left Christie camp last week to endorse Haley, tells NR that many steering committee members feel his departure from the race is “still too raw and too fresh” for them to turn around and endorse Haley.

Committee member Claira Monier confirmed as much, telling NR she’s still processing her “grief” over the Christie campaign. With the New Hampshire primary less than two weeks away, Monier said she is so committed to Christie that she will vote for him if it turns out that ballots were printed already and include his name. If not, she hasn’t begun to consider who she would support but came away from Wednesday night’s CNN debate between Haley and Florida governor Ron DeSantis with a bad taste in her mouth. “There’s too much anger. They really weren’t discussing ideas or policies. There were moments in taking shots at each other, who was going to one-up the other person? That’s not why I’m in politics. I’m interested in discussing what’s going to happen to this country.”

Two other Christie steering committee members tell NR they’re in the same camp. “I’ve not decided what to do,” says Peter Bragdon, the former president of New Hampshire state senate.

“I’d like another day or so to think about it,” says Toni Pappas, chair of the Hillsborough County board of commissioners.

Monier said Thursday afternoon no one from the Haley campaign has contacted her yet, but she expects they will. “But who knows, sometimes you build up such bitter enemies, you want nothing to do with them,” she said. 

Moments before he announced his departure from the race on Wednesday evening at a New Hampshire town hall, Christie was caught on a hot mic suggesting Haley is “gonna get smoked” in the race. He went on to say DeSantis had called him recently and sounded “petrified,” before the event’s livestream abruptly shut off. He did not make an endorsement, (and Haley made a point of telling Fox News she didn’t ask for it.)

Haley is toeing a line in New Hampshire, seeking not to alienate voters who have defected, or are willing to defect, from the former president, while also looking to attract independent voters in the Granite State’s open primary. Throughout the campaign, Haley has often been accused of trying to be all things to all people, so much so that her platform has at times become muddled. 

If the former South Carolina governor’s best-case scenario plays out — she wins second in Iowa and takes New Hampshire — it’s still unclear what a potential path to the nomination would look like for Haley in less moderate states. In her own home state of South Carolina, Trump boasts a 29-point lead over Haley, who sits in second-place, according to a recent survey from Emerson College Polling. That poll found Christie in fourth place, notching 5 percent support.

And in Nevada, things could get messy; the state is in the unusual position of having both a primary and a Republican caucus. Haley and several also-rans who have since dropped out of the race are set to appear on the primary ballot, while Trump, DeSantis, and Vivek Ramaswamy will participate in the caucus process. The situation comes after the state legislature passed a bill in 2021 to shift away from the traditional party-run caucus process in favor of a state-run primary. But the state GOP has decided to still host a caucus on February 8, two days after the primary.

Unlike other the governors of other early primary states, Nevada governor Joe Lombardo has not endorsed a candidate in the primary and has said he doesn’t plan to. By contrast, Iowa governor Kim Reynolds threw her support behind DeSantis, while New Hampshire governor Chris Sununu has backed Haley and South Carolina governor Henry McMaster endorsed Trump.

Still, endorsements aren’t everything, and in one Christie ally’s opinion, could even be a net negative in the former New Jersey governor’s case.

“His endorsement might scare some people away where she may be on the verge of getting a vote,” Olsen said. “Maybe she doesn’t really want it for that reason.”