Nikki Haley wants a two-person race. The New Hampshire Independent can give you one

(CNN) — Daniel Brown voted for John McCain in the 2000 New Hampshire Republican primary and for Barack Obama in the Democratic primary eight years later. This Tuesday, he intends to endorse former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley to send a clear message to both parties.

“We need some new ideas and a new, younger generation coming in,” Brown, an undeclared voter, said while holding a Haley 2024 sign freshly autographed by the candidate. “Haley is full of energy. “I think he can do a lot for our country.”

Brown is a caught-moderate voter, one of the thousands of independents and undeclared residents who make up the majority of the Granite State’s electorate and an important part of Haley’s coalition. Her chances in New Hampshire — and by extension, the fate of her campaign — will likely depend on how many independents vote for her in the state’s primary this Tuesday.

As of Friday, 344,335 voters in New Hampshire were registered as undeclared, representing about 40% of the electorate.

Haley’s campaign is targeting Republican and undeclared voters from the suburbs to the coast, aides said, particularly in congressional districts where Trump underperformed other Republicans such as Gov. Chris Sununu. Although Trump won the New Hampshire Republican primary in 2016, he lost the state in both the 2016 and 2020 general elections.

A victory in New Hampshire could give Haley’s campaign the boost and donor money it needs to compete in South Carolina on February 24, and Super Tuesday reports that the vote will be held on March 5.

However, the loss could accelerate the momentum that the Republican Party has gathered around Trump.

South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, who ended his presidential bid in November, became the latest former candidate to endorse Trump at a rally in Concord on Friday. Haley dismissed the endorsement, saying in a statement that Trump was aligning “Washington insiders” despite promising to drain the swamp.

“But guys are going to do what they’re going to do,” Haley said.

Haley’s has ramped up its campaign schedule in recent days, adding some brief stops at retail stores. Haley, joined by Sununu on Friday, said small businesses are “the heartbeat of the economy” during a stop at Newfields Country Store in Newfields, took selfies with voters and shoppers at Kay’s Cafe + Bakery in Hampton, and ended the day with a town hall. in Manchester.

Trump wants to keep control of conservatives

As Trump campaigns in New Hampshire, the former president is trying to keep Republicans at bay and out of Haley’s reach.

“Nikki Haley is counting on Democrats and liberals in particular to infiltrate her Republican primaries,” Trump told supporters at a rally in Portsmouth on Wednesday.

Their battle cry is wrong. Democrats cannot vote in Republican primaries, and the deadline to register as a Republican or undeclared voter was October. Undeclared voters have the option of choosing a Democratic or Republican primary ballot on Election Day.

Greg Moore, a senior adviser at AFP Action, a political network backed by conservative billionaire Charles Koch that has poured its resources into supporting Haley, said Friday that the group’s data showed the former governor’s base includes conservative voters. AFP Action, which endorsed Haley in November, has reached out to more than 210,000 people in New Hampshire, Moore said.

“I think part of the story is that all the moderates support Haley and all the conservatives support Trump,” Moore said. “I know that’s not true.”

What the former president doesn’t know is that Haley’s rallies and town hall meetings in New Hampshire last week were packed with voters like Susan Rice of Rochester, who voted for Trump twice.

Rice, who owns spinning companies in New Hampshire and Maine, was invited to showcase small business leaders at the White House in 2018 during the Trump administration. He said he believes the time has come for the country to move on.

“I’m a staunch Republican and have been my whole life,” Rice said. “I think the time has come to have a woman as president. “I like her foreign policy and I like the fact that she has a good understanding of our southern border and what she wants to do about it.”

She said she was tired of Trump and excited about Haley’s potential to rebuild the Republican Party.

“I don’t worry about court cases,” Rice said. “But it’s stuff and, honestly, sometimes what comes out of your mouth and, how to put it diplomatically, insults, insults to other people.”

Hollis resident Michael Lewis said he supports Trump’s approach to the economy, the border and the U.S. relationship with NATO, but he can’t vote for a presidential candidate “who is beyond his prime.”

He also expressed doubts that Trump is qualified to run for the presidency in the general election.

“I think the order is the campaign, then there’s the (Republican National) Convention and then there will be the condemnation of Donald Trump,” Lewis said. “There has to be an alternative. “I think she is the answer.”

Still, while some former Trump voters are open, even eager, to vote for Haley, the former president’s base in New Hampshire remains strong.

“MAGA will not stand with him,” Trump told Fox News on Thursday.

That was the sentiment Friday afternoon at the Saddle Up Saloon in Kingston, where Republican Sen. JD Vance of Ohio gathered Trump supporters. In interviews, aides have cited similar criticisms Haley’s opponents have made against her foreign policy views and conservatism.

Sylvia, a Nashua voter at the event who declined to give her last name, said she would not run in the general election if Trump named Haley his running mate.

“He’s a RINO, he’s a warmonger,” he said, using the acronym “Republican in Name Only.” “I’m not for that at all.”

Bill Jackson, an 86-year-old Hampton man who plans to vote for Trump, said he believes Haley has support only among elites and echoed the former president’s comments about Democrats’ crossover vote.

“He is pro-war. “She’s also pro-immigration, illegal immigration,” he said. “I mean, she said we have to treat these people as equals. No, we are not, they are entering this country illegally.

The Trump campaign and allied super PACs tried to portray Haley as weak on border security. Haley responded by saying that securing the border would be one of her administration’s top priorities. She has characterized herself as a conservative and has said that her advocacy for a strong American foreign policy is aimed at avoiding war.

An alternative to Trump and Biden

Along the way, Haley expanded on the pitch she began making the night of the Iowa caucuses: that she is voters’ best chance to prevent both Trump and President Joe Biden from winning another term. Haley highlighted polls showing he would beat GOP front-runner Biden by a wide margin in the general election, and argued he would help Republicans win House, Senate and gubernatorial races.

A poll released Friday found Haley tied with Biden about 47% to 44% in the New Hampshire general election matchup, with Trump trailing Biden by 7 points and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis by 8 points.

Haley tried to draw comparisons between Trump and Biden, from their ages to the amount of government spending they’ve approved in office, saying both presidents come with “baggage.”

His revised speech also responded more aggressively to the Trump campaign’s characterization of parts of his record, including his position that the retirement age needs to be raised for people in their 20s and 30s. In a recent ad, the Trump campaign falsely claimed that Haley wanted to limit Social Security to current beneficiaries.

Haley noted that Trump supported raising the Social Security age to 70. Trump supported extending the Social Security Age in his 2000 book, “The America We Deserve,” but has wavered on whether to cut the entitlement since running for president in 2016, CNN’s KFile last reported. year

“If he’s going to lie about me, we’re going to tell the truth about him,” Haley said Thursday in Hollis. “You’ll see a lot of things being said, but at the end of the day it’s drama, revenge and revenge that we want to get out of the way.”

The message resonated with Nancy Protzman, an undeclared voter who attended Hollis’ event and said she had long been looking for a candidate who would support Trump. As he left the scene, he said he planned to apply for the Republican ballot and vote for Haley.

“I will do everything in my power to make sure that Trump does not become our next president,” Protzman said. “But I liked what he said … and I don’t like Biden either.”

When asked if his decision was to vote yes for Haley or a setback for Trump, he said ideally it would be both.

“I hope it’s a launching pad for him, because I think he’s going to be a good president,” Protzman said. “And I certainly hope it helps block that.”

CNN’s Ebony Davis and Ali Mann contributed to this report.