Nikki Haley emphatically says she has no interest in being vice president, including for Trump: 'I don't play for 2nd'
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- Nikki Haley strongly declare she has no interest in being anyone's running mate.
- The former UN ambassador said "it's not even a conversation" for her.
- Former President Donald Trump has joked that his challengers are simply auditioning for the job.
Former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley says emphatically that she has no interest in being anyone's vice president, including joining a potential ticket with former President Donald Trump.
"It's not even a conversation and it doesn't matter what candidate wants me to answer it: I don't play for second," Haley told the Christian Broadcast Network's David Brody in an interview after a campaign stop in Iowa. "I don't know what more I can say than to get them to understand that."
Haley said that candidates don't undergo the rigors of a presidential campaign only to end up as the sidekick on a presidential ticket, though historically that's exactly how some vice presidential nominees ended up on the ballot. President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris both ran for the top job in 2008 and 2020 respectively before eventually being elected as vice president.
"It's offensive when anybody says, 'that oh, she wants to be vice president,'" Haley said. "You don't do something like this to be vice president. You don't sacrifice emotionally, mentally, physically with your family, everything to come in for second."
Trump is currently on pace to blast through the early primaries and caucuses. According to FiveThirtyEight's weighted national polling average, the former president has a 50-point lead over Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Haley sits in third. Trump also has a 26-point lead in Iowa and a 24-point lead in New Hampshire, the first two states that will kick off the nomination race. Recent polls have shown Haley is gaining ground in the Granite State.
Left unmentioned, if Trump were to win the nomination being the former president's running mate comes with even more challenges than the rivalries that sometimes spark between the nation's top leaders. Former Vice President Mike Pence has accused Trump of "endanger[ing] my family' for his "reckless" words on January 6, 2021. Trump had engaged in a months-long campaign to pressure Pence to unilaterally overturn the election.
DeSantis, who has endured Trump's attacks for months, has also said he wouldn't be interested in sharing the ticket with Trump. The former president has mused that the Republican candidates debate as a way to audition to become his running mate. He's not yet entertained.
"We're competing with the job candidates, they're all running for a job," Trump said during a September speech in Michigan. "No, they're all job candidates. They want to be in the — they want to, they'll do anything, secretary of something, they even say VP."