Few Republican women make it to Caucus Day. As Nikki Haley closes in, gendered attacks rise.

NEWTON, Iowa — As Nikki Haley snapped photos and shook hands after a recent town hall, her self-selected playlist switched over to a new song and Sheryl Crow’s twangy voice started pumping through the speakers.

“After 230-something years of waiting, it's way past overdue. Yeah, I think it's time we put a woman in the White House," Crow crooned as Haley, the only woman running in the Republican presidential primary, continued to work the room.

Haley rarely mentions the historic nature of her candidacy on the trail. But the song choice was a subtle reminder that she’s on the cusp of becoming only the third Republican woman to ever make it to the Iowa Caucuses — and she is the first to be in serious contention for a top-two finish.

Seeing a woman on the campaign trail is perhaps unremarkable for Iowa Republicans, who elected Gov. Kim Reynolds, the state’s first female chief executive, to her first full term in 2018 and sent Iowa’s first woman to Congress in U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst in 2014.

On the campaign trail, many Iowa Republicans attending Haley's events say they’re ready to see a woman in the White House. And Haley leans into subtle reminders that, if they turn out to support her on caucus night, she could be that woman.

More: 'You won't get chaos with me,' Nikki Haley tells Iowans in post-debate campaign visit

But as Haley has risen in the polls, she’s increasingly become the focus of what some view as gendered attacks.

On the most recent debate stage in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy accused Haley of “using identity politics at every step.” And Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ super PAC is airing TV ads tying Haley to Democrat Hillary Clinton.

Trump has routinely called Haley a "birdbrain," including at a Nov. 18 campaign stop in Fort Dodge, a term that has been called sexist by some critics.

“Research would say that people — voters and the media — tend to ignore women candidates for president and vice president if they're really not doing very well," said Dianne Bystrom, director emerita of the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics at Iowa State University. “So like, why criticize them? But when they start going up in the polls or start getting some traction, that's when they're criticized, and often in a gendered way.”

According to the Des Moines Register/NBC News Iowa Poll, Haley got a burst of momentum in the fall, rising 10 percentage points to pull even with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in October. But he has since edged ahead, leading her 19% to 16% according to the most recent Iowa Poll.

The pair are in a heated fight for second place in Iowa as each of them vies to become the sole challenger to former President Donald Trump, who with 51% support has a commanding 32-point lead over DeSantis.

A strong second-place showing in Iowa could help clear the field for Haley, a former United Nations ambassador, who has a strong lead over DeSantis in New Hampshire and South Carolina, polling shows.

Nikki Haley sidesteps gender ‘traps’ laid by male opponents

Haley and Ramaswamy have battled across the GOP presidential debates this year, particularly over the handling of the war in Ukraine and other foreign policy priorities.

The attacks have grown increasingly personal, culminating on the December stage with Ramaswamy hurling a string of criticisms at Haley for embracing “identity politics.”

“Using identity politics more effectively than Kamala Harris is a form of intellectual fraud and it actually needs to end,” Ramaswamy told Haley. “… Having two X chromosomes does not immunize you from criticism.”

The moderators asked Haley if she wanted to respond to the attacks.

“No,” she said. “It’s not worth my time to respond to him.”

When charged with playing the “gender card,” Democratic candidates can often embrace it to appeal to their base, Bystrom said. A pair of Iowa Democrats even created a deck of playing cards featuring prominent women called “The Woman Cards” after Donald Trump levied the charge at Clinton during the 2016 campaign.

That’s not often true for Republicans, who are critical of identity politics, Bystrom said.

“I actually think that Haley's doing a good job not to fall into that trap that Vivek is trying to set for her. She seems to be ignoring it,” she said. “In fact, I think one of her best answers to the last debate was when they said, ‘Do you want to respond to that?’ And she said, ‘No.’”

More: Nikki Haley is attracting growing support from independent voters. Can she make them stick?

Although Haley doesn’t often linger on the topic, she doesn’t entirely avoid discussing gender, routinely making references to her role as a wife, mother and daughter of immigrants.

Campaign literature handed out at events displays a picture of Haley with a shirt that reads, “She who dares wins.”

And in a recent swing through Iowa, she told a story about working with older male legislators as a younger woman elected as South Carolina’s governor.

“In South Carolina, the average legislator was elected when I was 7 years old,” she said. “… And by the way, I was the first woman so, ‘Oh my God, it’s a girl!’”

But even those passing remarks — anodyne, compared with someone like 2016 Republican presidential contender Carly Fiorina, who routinely spoke about feminism — have drawn Ramaswamy’s ire.

“Nikki Haley's campaign launch video sounded like a woke Dylan Mulvaney Bud Light ad talking about how she would kick in heels,” he said during the debate. “At the first debate, she said that only a woman can get this job done.”

The offending line in that TV ad?

“You should know this about me,” Haley says, looking into the camera. “I don’t put up with bullies. And when you kick back, it hurts them more if you’re wearing heels.”

'She’s going to be the first woman president,' Haley supporter says. 'And we should be proud of that'

Emily Schmitt, a member of Haley’s Iowa leadership team, introduced the candidate at a town hall in Clear Lake by telling a story about taking her then-9-year-old daughter, Wynn, to meet Haley in 2021.

“My daughter got to go home that day and say, ‘So a woman can go and be president?’ And I said, ‘Absolutely,’" Schmitt said. “She also said I was cool because I knew Nikki Haley. So that’s besides the point, but I’ll take it as a mom.”

“Can you look in your kid’s eyes and say, 'I’m proud that this is the person I’m going to elect to be president of the United States?'” Schmitt asked the crowd. “And with Nikki Haley, I think she’s the only one that we can go to bed at night and our daughters say, ‘I hope everyone votes for Nikki Haley so she can get that job.’”

Speaking to the Des Moines Register, Schmitt said that was a lightbulb moment for her.

“My biggest wrong assumption was that my daughter would know that a woman could be president,” she said. “So, when she said that, I felt, ‘Wow, I need to do even more if my own daughter didn’t really realize that.’”

She said candidates such as Ramaswamy attacking Haley over her gender show that they underestimated her at first and had to find something to attack.

“The fact that they have to go that low to try and attack her for something that is applauded for us — she’s going to be the first woman president, and we should be proud of that,” Schmitt said. “But she’s not going to do it just because she’s a woman. She’s the most qualified. People like her, they hear her and they’ll vote for her.”

More: Americans for Prosperity's Nikki Haley endorsement could be ‘game changer,’ strategist says

Debra Garnes, 65, was drawn to Haley after watching her debate performances and signed a card committing to caucus for Haley after attending a town hall in Ankeny in November.

Garnes, a Republican who is retired from John Deere, said Haley impressed her with her knowledge and positions on foreign policy and abortion.

“We need a strong woman as president, I’ll tell you that right now,” she said.

Garnes said electing a woman isn’t the most important issue to her, “but it would be nice if it was a woman.”

“They’ve got to have the right ideology that corresponds to what I believe in,” she said. “But the fact that she’s a woman makes it better.”

Linda Scott, a 66-year-old Republican from Iowa City, saw Haley at a town hall in Newton in November and said she volunteered to support her.

Scott, who is retired from working as a nurse at the VA, describes herself as moderate and pro-choice, and she said she likes Haley’s stance on abortion.

Haley describes herself as “pro-life” in part because her husband was adopted. But she says people should stop “demonizing” women over the issue.

“I like how she tiptoed that line of saying, ‘I don’t agree because of my husband but I also believe that I don’t make a choice for someone else,’” Scott said. “And that’s where I stand.”

In a November debate, Ramaswamy asked if voters "want Dick Cheney in 3-inch heels." Haley retorted that he was wrong on the height.

“I liked her comments about she had 5-inch heels on, too… And they were weapons,” Scott added. “She’s spunky.”

Polling shows Haley doesn’t overperform among women

But Haley isn’t winning over women in droves, according to the December Iowa Poll.

Among women, the results largely mirror the poll’s overall result. Trump gets the support of 46%, DeSantis comes in second with 19% and Haley is in third with 17%.

Haley does better with women 65 and older, getting 23% to DeSantis’ 16%. But Trump still leads with 48%.

Haley is viewed as favorably by men as she is by women. Fifty-nine percent of both sexes say they view Haley favorably compared to 31% who view her unfavorably.

Ashley Nutt, a 43-year-old Iowa Poll respondent and West Des Moines resident, said she has “Trump fatigue” and is planning to caucus for DeSantis.

In part, she worries that Haley won’t be taken seriously because she’s a woman.

More: DeSantis, Haley, Ramaswamy, Binkley highlight faith and family at Randy Feenstra event

“I think on the world stage looking at countries that are nations that are not on good terms with the United States, they tend to be culturally very patriarchal,” she said. "… I don't think they are going to respect us with a woman leader. I don't think they're going to take us seriously. And I think we are losing our place on the world stage. So, I definitely want a man as president.”

Voters sometimes expect women to stick to certain issues. Haley supporter says she’s ‘the whole package’

At a July campaign event in Iowa City before welcoming Haley to the floor, state Sen. Chris Cournoyer briefly opened up about her experience as a Republican woman in office.

She said she is tired of being called a “victim” simply because she is a woman.

“I don’t think my gender dictates whether or not I’m a victim or not,” Cournoyer said to the crowd that had gathered at Wildwood Smokehouse & Saloon.

“They also try to paint us into corners where we can only talk about child care or education or health care. Well, guess what? We can talk about a lot of other things. We can talk about economic development. We can talk about fiscally responsible budgeting, tax reform, energy, technology, infrastructure, guns. … And this lady sitting next to me can talk about all those things because she has led on all of those things as governor of South Carolina.”

Bystrom said it’s true that some voters tend to associate women as being stronger on certain issues compared with men. Women are seen as being stronger on issues such as health care and education, where men tend to be seen as better with crime and the economy.

“One of the things that helps her, I think, avoid some of these traps is her background, not only as a governor, but as U.N. ambassador,” Bystrom said. “So she's got some chops there on the international stage, which typically is what we consider more of a male attribute.”

Scott, who saw Haley speak at the Newton town hall, said Haley’s experience as both a governor and a U.N. ambassador makes her “the whole package.”

She said she thinks it’s time for the country to elect a woman.

“I think we’re ready for her,” she said.

Women running for president ‘open the door’ for more candidates to run

Bystrom said that it's getting more typical for caucusgoers to see women running for higher office.

Margaret Chase Smith was the first woman to have her name placed in nomination for the presidency by a major party when she ran for the Republican nomination in 1964. But her campaign came before the Iowa Caucuses established themselves as the first-in-the-nation contest.

Republican Elizabeth Dole ran for president in 1999 but ended her campaign before the Iowa Caucuses.

Michele Bachmann placed sixth in the 2012 Republican caucuses with 5%. And Fiorina got 2% in the 2016 caucuses, placing seventh, before ending her campaign shortly after the New Hampshire primaries.

Bystrom said female candidates have often credited other women for inspiring them to run for president themselves, even across party lines.

She pointed to an interview clip that DeSantis’ super PAC has selectively edited into a TV ad where Haley credits Clinton, who ran for president twice as a Democrat, for helping drive her to run for office.

"And interestingly enough, I went to a women’s leadership event at Furman University and Hillary Clinton was there,” Haley recounts in a 2019 interview moderated by Joni Ernst. “And she happened to say, ‘For all the reasons people tell you not to do it, that's exactly the reason that you should.’ So, Hillary Clinton is actually the reason. I may not agree with her on a lot of things, but she’s actually the reason that I made the jump."

That kind of praise, even for a candidate from another party, is not without precedent, Bystrom said, noting that Clinton also praised Dole.

“And so every time a woman runs successfully for a higher office, regardless of what party they're in, it opens the door for the next woman that runs — I think especially when you're looking at the office of the presidency.”

Brianne Pfannenstiel is the chief politics reporter for the Register. Reach her atbpfann@dmreg.com or 515-284-8244. Follow her on Twitter at @brianneDMR.

Stephen Gruber-Miller covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. He can be reached by email at sgrubermil@registermedia.com or by phone at 515-284-8169. Follow him on Twitter at @sgrubermiller.

F. Amanda Tugade covers social justice issues for the Des Moines Register. Email her at ftugade@dmreg.com or follow her on Twitter @writefelissa.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Nikki Haley fends off gendered attacks as she runs for GOP nomination