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Get to Know Nikki: Nikki Haley Is Just as MAGA as the MAGA Right Wing

Today, former Trump administration Cabinet official Nikki Haley announced her run for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination. As she launches her campaign, Haley is talking about her personal background and attempting to distinguish herself from what promises to be a Republican field that is slanted to the far right. 

But a look at the evidence suggests that Nikki Haley is just another MAGA hardliner masquerading as a mainstream Republican to try to appeal to more-moderate primary voters. Here’s a look at just three of Haley’s most defiant “just as MAGA” moments:

Restricted Women’s Reproductive Rights in South Carolina: In 2016, then-South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley signed an extreme piece of legislation that severely restricted women’s access to abortions, with no exceptions for rape or incest, into law in South Carolina. 

Endorsed Plans to End Social Security and Medicare as We Know It: As early as 2010, Nikki Haley praised former Republican Speaker Paul Ryan’s Medicare proposal that would radically change Medicare as we know it and said lawmakers should examine Medicare and Social Security spending to address federal debt. And in 2020, she tweeted out a public declaration in favor of cuts to Social Security

Denied Thousands of South Carolinians Access to Medicaid: Haley blocked over 300,000 South Carolinians’ access to Medicaid by refusing to accept federal assistance and expand the program in 2014, making affordable care less accessible to the most vulnerable populations in her state. 

“Nikki Haley can try to repackage herself however she wants, but she repeatedly failed her constituents as governor and then gave cover and comfort to Donald Trump as a loyal adviser in his Cabinet—all to please the far-right MAGA base,” said MoveOn Political Action Executive Director Rahna Epting. “She has shown that she will do anything to follow the MAGA agenda, even if it means taking away our personal freedoms and our hard-earned Social Security and Medicare, slashing Medicaid access, or weakening our democracy. MoveOn and our millions of members will not relent in calling out Nikki Haley on her ‘just-as-MAGA’ agenda as she tries to run to the middle.”

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MoveOn is a people-powered force for progress. MoveOn mobilizes the left to elect Democrats and enact progressive change. We are the home base for millions of members who refuse to accept the status quo and are moved to take action. For more than a generation, MoveOn has been a bulwark against the radical right, channeling our voices to end wars, protect democracy, and advance justice for all.