Trump, Haley brawl in North Carolina battleground preview
By James Oliphant and Gram Slattery
GREENSBORO, North Carolina (Reuters) — Republican presidential contender Nikki Haley slammed frontrunner Donald Trump for hurting Republicans' election prospects as the rivals collided in North Carolina on Saturday ahead of a contest next week that could carry deep implications for the November general election.
Speaking to roughly 1,000 supporters at a train station in downtown Raleigh, Haley, who faces vanishing odds of beating Trump, blamed the former U.S. president for major state-level and congressional losses for Republicans in recent years.
«We lost in 2018. We lost in 2020. We lost in 2022,» Haley said. «How many more times do we have to lose before we realize maybe Donald Trump is the problem?»
North Carolina's March 5 primary is part of a Super Tuesday slate of 16 nominating contests that will bring Trump close to clinching the Republican nomination. It also is the only race that day that will be held in a battleground state that could decide the next occupant of the White House.
Trump, who drew a larger crowd than Haley for his rally on Saturday at a coliseum in Greensboro, is heavily favored in North Carolina's primary. But Haley's performance should give a sense of his vulnerabilities in the Southern state, particularly among moderate and independent voters, said Thom Little, a professor of political science at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro.
The state's election rules allow independents who are not affiliated with a party to vote in the Republican primary. Those voters have been a source of strength for Haley in states such as New Hampshire and her home state of South Carolina, where she scored about 40% of the vote.
Some voters at Haley's event in
Read more on investing.com
