Trailing Donald Trump by wide margins in polls, Republican Nikki Haley announced the members of her presidential primary campaign team in Maine on Tuesday.
The former United Nations ambassador and former governor of South Carolina unveiled the list of supporters one week before Super Tuesday, when voters in Maine and 16 other states will head to the polls to help choose candidates to run for president in November. Massachusetts and Vermont are among the other states holding primaries on March 5.
“Mainers know what’s at stake in this election,” Haley said in a written statement to the Press Herald on Tuesday morning. “Republicans are looking for a change in leadership and someone who can focus on the issues, whether it’s the border, the economy, or our national security.”
A spokesperson for the Trump campaign dismissed the announcement in a written statement.
“Republican voters have delivered resounding wins for President Trump in every single primary contest and this race is over,” said Steven Cheung. “Our focus is now on Joe Biden and the general election.”
Haley’s leadership team in Maine consists of former state Senate Republican leader Mary Small, former state Rep. Jayne Crosby Giles, former House chief of staff Billy Thompson and former school board chairman Tyler Washburn of Harpswell.
“Americans are begging for a return to normalcy,” Small said in a written statement. “They’re tired of the division and they’re ready for a leader who can unite the country and focus on what matters: getting our economy on track, securing our border, and setting our kids up for success.”
Haley’s campaign also announced 14 endorsements, including former Senate President Mike Thibodeau and former Congressman David Emery, who also filed a brief in support of Secretary of State Shenna Bellows’ decision to declare Trump ineligible for the ballot because of his role in the Jan. 6 riots at the Capitol. That decision is on hold until the U.S. Supreme Court rules on a similar decision to remove Trump from the ballot in Colorado.
Recent polling in Maine has shown Trump with a commanding lead, despite facing criminal charges stemming from his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, his efforts to keep classified documents he took when he left office, hush money payments to an adult film star and business fraud in New York.
An independent poll of 791 likely Maine voters from Feb. 6-14 by Pan Atlantic Research showed Trump leading Haley by 42 percentage points, with 66% of likely Republican primary voters saying they’d cast their ballots for the former president and 24% for Haley. Only 9% said they were undecided. The poll’s margin of error is 3.5%.
A separate poll of 824 members of the University of New Hampshire’s Pine Tree Panel showed similar strength for Trump. That poll showed 77% of 267 likely Republican primary voters named Trump as their first choice, while 19% named Haley. A majority – 53% – said they would be enthusiastic about Trump being the 2024 nominee.
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