COLUMBIA, S.C. — When Nikki Haley was first elected to the South Carolina State House, she didn’t have many friends. It was a consequence of her ousting a 30-year incumbent in the Republican primary.
And when she became governor six years later, Haley continued to go up against establishment Republicans, which included her continued call for required on-the-record voting for all bills and all sections of the state’s annual spending plan. Many lawmakers didn’t like that, and Haley didn’t care.
But lawmakers in the State House, including those who were present for Haley’s time in office, have long memories of the combative times. And now, only a handful of current and former Palmetto State lawmakers have voiced support for the former United Nations ambassador’s 2024 campaign for the White House.
If Haley wins the White House next year, she’ll have to work with Congress, and her experience as a South Carolina executive could inform how she would deal with the nation’s legislative branch. What goals could she accomplish as president with a reputation of ruffling feathers among lawmakers?
State Rep. Nathan Ballentine, R-Richland, one of Haley’s backers in the state Legislature, said the lack of support from the sitting lawmakers is a plus for the candidate.
“It tells you everything that people like about her,” Ballentine said. “She’s not establishment — she’s a new face, a new voice. She’s not going to be the same old guard that does the same old thing.”
“Endorsements are nice,” Ballentine added, “but at the end of the day, it’s the people who are voting that matter.”
Battles with the legislative establishment
During her time as a legislator and governor, Haley went up against the establishment in a building predominantly dominated by men, many of whom had been involved in state politics for years before Haley arrived.
Haley defeated former state Rep. Larry Koon, a 30-year incumbent, in the Republican primary and wasn’t well liked in the State House when she first became state representative — a badge of honor she and Ballentine, her former seatmate, still speak about.
After she was elected governor in 2010, which included finishing first in a four-person GOP primary with nearly 49% of the vote before winning a runoff with 65% of the vote, she would battle with the same establishment in the Legislature.
“There’s a natural tension sometimes exacerbated on either side between executive and legislative branches,” said Rob Godfrey, who served as deputy chief of staff during Haley’s administration. “While they’re both working for the best interest of the people of the state, sometimes (they) see different paths to policy wins, and that’s OK.”
As governor, she vetoed millions in spending year after year, including earmarks requested by lawmakers, calling some of the projects the “worst kind of legislative deal-making — pork, pet projects, earmarks and micromanagement of state agencies.”
Haley also vetoed a $12,000-a-year pay raise for lawmakers, saying it should be decided through a voter referendum and oftentimes axed dollars allocated to the S.C. Arts Commission.
“She has her way, and then a lot of times that didn’t agree with the way we were trying to do things in the House or in the Senate,” said state Rep. Bill Hixon, an Edgefield County Republican who is backing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ White House bid and has been a lawmaker since 2011.
Current House Ways and Means Chairman Bruce Bannister, a Greenville Republican who was majority leader for four years of Haley’s tenure as governor, said Haley did not want to participate in a “give and take” with the General Assembly.
“When she was governor, she adopted the (Mark) Sanford style of being governor, which was to be an absolutist on her policy positions, and she was unwilling to negotiate or compromise even when that would move the ball forward on an issue,” said Bannister, who is backing U.S. Sen. Tim Scott’s presidential campaign. “It was very frustrating, especially since she was from the legislative body and knew how the House and Senate worked and that you rarely got everything that you asked for.”
At one point in Haley’s tenure, she issued report cards on how well legislators worked on handling her agenda, following up on a promise she made on the campaign trail.
“There is a natural resentment legislators had to a governor calling them out and holding them accountable,” said state Sen. Tom Davis, R-Beaufort, a Haley backer. “That’s probably the thing that rankled feathers the most.”
But Haley, who was the second-youngest governor in state history, only issued the report cards once.
“It illustrates a point when you’re a governor, you’re always growing, always evolving, always finding your feet. You’re always finding the best way to do things,” Godfrey said. “Maybe the best way to work with the Legislature wasn’t necessarily to issue report cards. So those weren’t issued but one time, and I think that shows a measure of acknowledgment on the part of the governor’s office that it was important to continue to work on those relationships, and that’s a credit to the governor.”
The idea of report cards to hold others accountable came up again when Haley was United Nations ambassador. She often speaks about her time in Donald Trump’s administration about how she put together a report of how much foreign aid was given to each country by the United States, compared to how often the country voted with the U.S.
After moving away from the legislator report cards, Haley moved on to posting on social media to call out lawmakers she disagreed with. She used social media as part of her bully pulpit to directly reach out to voters.
“In retrospect, was that style of calling people out always the right thing? That’s for historians and other people to judge as the years go on,” Godfrey said. “But oftentimes it was an effective thing to move people and mobilize people outside the State House to move. That’s part of her job as someone who is elected statewide and is responsive to voters statewide. She had a responsibility to represent all (of) the state, which was different from the role she played as a House member.”
Fewer backers in SC General Assembly
Despite the sometimes combative relationship between Haley and lawmakers, the six-year governor signed laws to improve literacy in the state, require law enforcement officers to wear body cameras, establish voter ID requirements and enacted ethics reform, on-the-record legislative voting, and a requirement for businesses in the state to check citizenship status of employees and job applicants through e-verify.
“When you take on the status quo, you make a lot of insiders mad,” said Ken Farnaso, Haley’s presidential campaign spokesman. “Thanks to Gov. Haley’s leadership, votes in the State House are on-the-record, legislators no longer investigate themselves for ethics violations, and public officials are required to disclose their income. She also worked with members of the Legislature to crack down on illegal immigration, protect life, cut taxes, stand up for our veterans, and create tens of thousands of jobs. As president, she’ll never be afraid to take on the right fights for the American people.”
It was the push she started as a legislator for the on-the-record voting that upset leadership in the state House and Haley says led to her being moved off of the Labor Commerce and Industry Committee by then-House Speaker Bobby Harrell.
“I think she paid a political price for that,” Davis said. “They did not like the fact that she elevated that issue.”
Despite the accomplishments her campaign team touts, Haley has only a handful of lawmakers from her home state publicly backing her campaign for the White House: state Reps. Ballentine, Chris Wooten and Mike Neese and state Sens. Davis and Wes Climer.
She also has support from former state House Speaker David Wilkins, former House Majority Leader Kenny Bingham, former state Rep. Ted Pitts and current U.S. Congressman Ralph Norman, who served in the South Carolina House while Haley was governor and a state representative. However, the Haley campaign has not released a South Carolina endorsement list yet.
But her style that bothered lawmakers from time to time is what her supporters now say is a plus.
“She was just relentless about (business) recruiting,” Norman said. “That’s her hallmark of getting down into the weeds and doing what it takes to grow a state that could have fallen behind in letting good businesses go to other states. She’s tough. She’s very street smart and has a vision for the state and the country.”
In contrast to Haley, one of her Republican rivals in the 2024 presidential race, Tim Scott, a fellow South Carolinian who spent only two years in the State House before his election to Congress, has racked up endorsements from more than 30 current and former lawmakers nearly out of the gate, including former Speaker Harrell, who was sentenced to three years probation after pleading guilty to state ethics charges.
Haley backers say it’s not surprising Scott has a higher legislator endorsement count because having a relationship with a sitting senator could help lawmakers in the future.
“Whether it’s likeability or whether it’s respect, I don’t think you read anything into that other than politicians like to be in the picture,” said Pitts, who also worked as Haley’s chief of staff during her first term. “So standing behind Tim Scott, who we all have a lot of respect for, doesn’t surprise me. Whether he’s elected president or not, they still have a need for him to answer their call later.”
How would she work with Congress?
Whoever is elected president will have to work with Congress to accomplish an agenda. Traditionally, it’s easier in the first two years of an administration when the House of Representatives is more likely to be controlled by the same party that controls the White House.
Haley already on the campaign trail has blamed both major parties for budget deficits and growing debt facing the nation.
Norman said Haley will have a style that is useful when working with Congress.
“Some that disagree with her, some that want to go after her, which is fine. She welcomes that,” Norman said. “She’s not afraid of confrontation, and that’s what we need now. She’s going to have to fight the lobbyists, the special interest groups to get this country back on track financially; she’s going to have to say ‘no.’ She’s going to have to tell people no, when they’ve always been told yes.”
With Washington known for its gridlock, will Haley be able to move her priorities forward when even when she clashes with members of her own party?
“The difference is that Congress seems to make a point of not getting along. And they’re not like South Carolina,” said state House Minority Leader Todd Rutherford, a Richland County Democrat who said he can sit down and have dinner with Republicans in South Carolina. “You have to do that here. They don’t have to do that there. And so that may make people happy that she doesn’t get along with people that she needs to in order to get things done.”
Davis said he expects Haley won’t be afraid to take a position in Washington.
“When you’re in that type of context, the only time you’re going to affect the change that’s needed is from the outside in,” Davis said. “You’re going to need to galvanize people, you’re going to need to let the people know what’s going on up there in D.C. And, quite frankly, you’re going to have to name names and point out who the problem is and then use the bully pulpit to hold them accountable. And Haley’s got that skill set.”
