Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley will have the assistance of a House Freedom Caucus member stumping for her in Fox News’s spin room on Wednesday night at the Republican National Committee’s first primary debate.
Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC), who has endorsed fellow South Carolinian Haley for president, will be in the spin room at the debate alongside Katon Dawson, the former chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party.
DEBATE: WITH FRONT-RUNNER TRUMP OUT, WILL GOP VOTERS TUNE IN?
Norman is one of the more hard-line conservative members of Congress, specifically raising alarms about the national debt.
During House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) battle for the speakership in January, when he had to manage a group of conservative detractors and a slim Republican majority, Norman initially held out against him. He ultimately switched his vote to support McCarthy after several rounds of voting because of promises from the now-speaker to balance the budget.
In May, Norman also voted against a debt deal that had been negotiated between President Joe Biden and McCarthy to address the debt ceiling deadline that was approaching.
In a statement to the Washington Examiner, Norman outlined the message he hopes to send on Wednesday night.
“The Republican nomination is not a foregone conclusion. It’s important for Republican voters to see which candidates are capable of winning in the general election, and who is not,” he said. “Don’t ever underestimate Nikki Haley. You’re going to see her shine in this debate. She’s going to be a great president.”
In February, Norman endorsed Haley the day she launched her campaign. “We are at a pivotal point in our nation. While the Republican candidates, values, and messages have done very well here in South Carolina, that hasn’t been the case everywhere across our great nation,” he wrote in a social media post.
“It’s time for a reset and a new chapter in national Republican politics, and there’s no better person to help write that new chapter than our former governor and my good friend, Nikki Haley!” he added.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Norman is the most prominent endorsement Haley has received and the only one from a member of Congress.
The congressman, alongside Dawson, will be making the case for Haley, up against high-profile surrogates from former President Donald Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis’s (R-FL) campaigns. DeSantis will be supported by Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) and Gov. Kevin Stitt (R-OK), while Trump is expected to be represented by many surrogates despite his absence. Some of those headed to the debate who may make appearances in the spin room for Trump are Reps. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), Byron Donalds (R-FL), Mike Waltz (R-FL), and his son Donald Trump Jr., among others.
