Voter calls out Haley for not mentioning slavery in Civil War answer

A voter in New Hampshire confronted GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley on the campaign trail for not mentioning slavery in her response to his question about the cause of the Civil War.

Haley, the former South Carolina governor and United Nations ambassador, said during a town hall in the early voting state that the cause of the war came down to the role of government.

“Well, don’t come with an easy question, right,” Haley said to the crowd at the event in Berlin, N.H. “I mean, I think the cause of the Civil War was basically how government was going to run, the freedoms and what people could and couldn’t do.”

Haley, who has made significant strides in the early-voting state ahead of the Jan. 23 primary thanks to several strong debate performances, added that it “always” comes down to the role of government.

“We need to have capitalism, we need to have economic freedom,” she said. “We need to make sure that we do all things so that individuals have the liberties so that they can have freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom to do or be anything they want to be without government getting in the way.”

The voter criticized her answer and said it was "astonishing" that in 2023 she did not mention slavery when discussing the cause of the Civil War.

“What do you want me to say about slavery?” she asked.

“You answered my question. Thank you,” the voter responded.

“Next question,” Haley said, as the crowd applauded.

Haley, who served as South Carolina’s governor for six years, trails former President Trump for the Republican presidential nomination but has seen her support rise in recent weeks, especially in New Hampshire.

Trump currently has a 17-point lead over Haley in New Hampshire, based on The Hill/Decision Desk HQ polling index.

South Carolina was the first state to secede from the Union in 1860. The state’s proclamation for seceding mentions slavery and points to the “increasing hostility” of non-slave holding states to the “institution of slavery.”

It’s not the first time Haley has been pressed on the war’s origin. In a 2010 interview she described the war as between two disparate sides that were fighting for “tradition” and “change,” The Associated Press reported.

In the interview, she said the Confederate flag was “not something that is racist.” Later, in 2015, Haley pressed local lawmakers in the Palmetto State to remove the Confederate flag from the capitol after nine Black churchgoers were killed in a mass shooting in Charleston.

Democratic National Committee chair Jaime Harrison criticized Haley’s encounter with the New Hampshire voter on Wednesday, calling it "a slap in the face to Black voters."

“This isn’t hard: condemning slavery is the baseline for anyone who wants to be President of the United States, but Nikki Haley and the rest of the MAGA GOP are choking on their words trying to rewrite history,” Harrison said in a statement.

Fellow GOP contender Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis's campaign posted the video of Haley online with the word, “Yikes.”

The Hill has reached out to the Haley team for comment.