Nikki Haley: “Hear Me Out—This Is Why I’m Staying in the Race”

Sometimes, the little things have the deepest meaning. Like the homemade friendship bracelets I get from girls across America.

I don’t remember where it started. Maybe it was in an Iowa farming town. Maybe it was up in the mountains of New Hampshire. It could have been California. All I know is that I now have more friendship bracelets than I can count. Some say “President Haley.” Some say “47th President.” One says “fearless.” I think that’s my favorite.

At first, I wondered what was happening. Now I know. These girls have hope. 

They’re not alone. For every girl who gives me a bracelet, there are thousands more who have that same belief. They want to fight for the things that matter. They want to stand up to the bullies who say they can’t. They want to prove that our country can do anything—that America is so much better than the mess we’re in.

So when reporters ask me why I’m still running for president, my answer is easy. I’m running for my children and your children. I’m running for the girls who hand me a bracelet and tell me through smiles or even tears, “Don’t give up!”

I hear them. I carry their words in my heart. If we give up now, I believe we may lose America. 

I am still in the race because we need solutions, and we need them now. We have to face hard truths and make the hard choices. That’s what I did as governor of South Carolina and Ambassador to the United Nations. I fought for America. And I’m not the only one. My husband is fighting in the uniform of the United States right now, deployed in the very same region where American troops are under attack from Iran. Every generation has stepped up to fight, in their own way, for our country’s future.

We must do so again. On Super Tuesday, I hope we chart a new direction, moving beyond all the division and decline. What starts on Tuesday will carry our nation forward, through Election Day and beyond. 

When we get there, I’ll still have those friendship bracelets. And the girls who gave them to me will live in the kind of country they deserve—a country that’s strong and proud and united in purpose.

Nikki Haley is running for president. She served as Governor of South Carolina and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.