Nikki Haley urges Michigan voters to pick her over Trump and 'chaos'

GRAND RAPIDS — A day before Michigan's presidential primary, Republican candidate Nikki Haley urged Michigan voters to support her over former President Donald Trump, arguing she represents the party's best chance to take back the White House and avoid four more years of "chaos" that she said has ensued under the presidencies of Trump and President Joe Biden.

Haley spoke to a crowd of a few hundred supporters at the Amway Grand Plaza hotel in Grand Rapids. In a speech that lasted just under 30 minutes, Haley criticized Biden, Trump and Republicans in Congress for not doing more to address issues at the U.S. southern border with Mexico, lower the national debt and doing more to support military veterans.

But Haley’s most pointed criticism was toward Trump, who appears to remain the most likely candidate to win the Republican Party’s nomination and be the party’s candidate for a third time this November. If Trump tops the Republican ticket, the party will suffer another electoral loss for the White House, Haley warned.

“Donald Trump is not watching out for the Republican Party, he’s not watching out for America. He's watching out for himself," said Haley, who was governor of South Carolina from 2011 to 2017 and was also Trump's ambassador to the United Nations. She lambasted Trump on a number of issues, including his comments on the war in Ukraine, his legal battles and the current state of the Republican Party, which she said Trump has weakened and divided.

“The problem is chaos literally follows him," she said. "We can’t be a country in disarray, in a world on fire, and go through four more years of chaos, we won’t survive.”

Haley also called for mental competency tests for federal candidates once they turn 75, saying the American people "need to know they're on top of their game." Age has been a pertinent question in the presidential race, and both Biden, 81, and Trump, 77, cross Haley's proposed threshold.

“Congress has become the most privileged nursing home in the country," she said. "This is nothing to play with, these are people making decisions about our economy. These are people making decisions about our national security. We need to know they’re on top of their game.”

After Haley's remarks, she took selfies and spoke with supporters. Jimmy Greene, former CEO and President of Associated Builders and Contractors of Michigan, introduced Haley. He said he supported her because "you get great policy and great character."

Before Haley spoke, she held a scrum with reporters where she said she believed the Democratic nominee would not be Biden, although she didn't say who she thought the candidate would be.

Haley's visit was the campaign's second stop in Michigan — on Sunday, she spoke to supporters in Troy. The Michigan stops come off the heels of a disappointing result in Haley's home state of South Carolina, where she lost to Trump in the state's Republican presidential primary by 20 percentage points, the Associated Press reported.

Opinion: Nikki Haley at Michigan rally: 'Trump can't win'

Still, Haley has vowed to remain in the race at least through March 5, so-called Super Tuesday, when 15 states and one U.S. territory hold presidential primaries.

Michigan's primary represents a significant chance for Haley to recapture some momentum in the Republican race, where Trump has won every primary that he's been on the ballot for so far. The former president also continues to be a massive figure in Republican politics in Michigan, drawing a crowd of thousands during a visit to Waterford earlier in February.

And while the prospects of somehow wresting the Republican nomination from Trump seem dubious for Haley at this point, Scott Muellerleile, 37, said he would even support Haley as a third-party candidate under the “No Labels” movement.

“It seems kind of obvious that Trump is going to (be) the Republican nominee. But No Labels has a platform to subvert that," Muellerleile, of Grand Haven, said before the event.

“I’m hoping that Nikki will go on that.”

On Fox and Friends, No Labels National Director Joe Cunningham said Haley “is somebody we’d definitely be interested in” as a candidate, The Hill reported, but Haley dismissed the idea of running as a third-party candidate during a scrum with reporters before her remarks.

"I have not spoken with anyone about anything other than running as a Republican," Haley said. "I have not talked to anyone, I have not put time into that."

"I'm running in the Republican primary, and I'm going to continue running in the Republican primary."

Still, Muellerleile, like many other voters in Michigan, is wary of a repeat of the 2020 election between Biden and Trump, which is why he supports Haley.

“She’s more middle of the road. With Trump, it’s too extreme this way, with Biden, it’s too extreme this way,” he said, gesturing in opposite directions. “It would be nice to have some civil conversation. Plus, during the primary debate(s), she was the only one that had a plan and answered the questions. That’s been big, I don’t want to hear a lot of people just blowing smoke.”

“Everyone was hoping it would be over, and now it’s not. And now we’re stuck with the same two choices.”

Robert Schwartz, co-founder of anti-Trump political action committee Primary Pivot, also attended Haley's rally. He said after the event the organization aims to convince Democratic and left-leaning independent voters to cross over and vote for Haley in the Republican primary, with a goal of forcing Trump to continue to deal with a primary fight for as long as possible.

"The longer that Nikki Haley stays in the race, the more he's going to drain his resources and say stupid things, like attacking Michael Haley," Schwartz said, referencing comments made by Trump where he questioned why Haley's husband, Michael, hadn't appeared more on the campaign trail. Michael Haley is overseas on military deployment.

Election Day in Michigan is Tuesday, Feb. 27.

Looking for more on Michigan’s elections this year? Check out our voter guide, subscribe to our elections newsletter and always feel free to share your thoughts in a letter to the editor.

Contact Arpan Lobo: alobo@freepress.com. Follow him on X (Twitter) @arpanlobo.

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This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Nikki Haley campaigns in Grand Rapids, says Trump won't win election