BETTENDORF, Iowa — Nikki Haley is the reason Julie Meyer is ready to change her party affiliation from Democrat to Republican before the Iowa caucuses.
The 64-year-old voter from Bettendorf, a suburb of Davenport, said she’s been a lifelong Democrat, but this election is different.
“Biden is getting too old. I’m not a Trump person, so she’s next in line,” Meyer said after seeing the former U.N. ambassador campaign over the weekend. “I know I’m not alone. I’m hearing about a lot of Democratic voters caucusing for her. That’s a good thing for her.”
In Iowa, only registered Republicans can participate in the GOP caucus and only in their designated home precinct. However, the state’s Republican Party allows voters to change their party affiliation and register as a Republican on the night of the Iowa caucuses.
Iowa Democrats changed their caucus process this year to comply with the Democratic National Committee’s new primary calendar, in which South Carolina will hold the first nominating process. This year, Iowa Democrats will pick their preferred presidential candidate by mail, and the results will be released on March 5.
Haley is battling Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) to emerge in Iowa as the preferred alternative to former President Donald Trump for the Republican presidential 2024 nomination. Trump expanded his lead over his rivals in the most recent Iowa poll, earning 51% first-choice support from likely Iowa caucusgoers. However, registered independents in the Hawkeye State outnumber both registered Republicans and Democrats, according to data from the Iowa secretary of state’s office.
J. Ann Selzer, the veteran pollster whose firm conducts the Iowa poll, said recent data from her polling found “mostly Republicans” planned to caucus in less than a week, but she did find there are some registered Democrats who plan to participate in the Republican contest.
“There are some who are currently registered Democrats; it’s not 20%, but it is in the double digits,” Seltzer said in an interview with the Washington Examiner, characterizing the data she’s collected. “You can change your registration on caucus night. We don’t know their reasons, whether they like Nikki Haley or they are there to throw off Trump.”
For Greg McGee, a truck driver from Bettendorf, that’s his primary motivation in switching his party affiliation from Democrat to Republican this caucus season. Not only does he plan to caucus for Haley, but he’s also been donating to the campaign.
“I want to keep Trump out of the office at all costs,” McGee said, sitting next to his daughter ahead of Haley’s campaign event on Saturday. “I think Haley is probably the most centrist of any candidate, even Biden. But, she’ll be the first Republican I have ever voted for.”
Even though Haley’s policy positions are far from liberal, the former South Carolina governor has taken a more nuanced tone on issues like abortion. While she has said she wants to limit the number of abortions in the United States, she acknowledges a federal abortion restriction would not have the 60 votes in the Senate to overcome a filibuster and become law.
“I also support her because she’s not going to take up extreme positions like abortion,” McGee added. “The same with education. She’s not going to live on those fringes.”
McGee said he was contacted by the campaign locally to ask if he would become a precinct captain for her in next week’s caucuses, and he agreed to do so.
“It will be my first time caucusing and also my first time as a precinct captain,” McGee explained. “The reason I’m doing all this is because my vote counts more towards what I want than in the general election, where I’d be forced to choose between two turds if I don’t get involved now.”
Haley has been leaning into her appeal to the political middle on the campaign trail in an effort to make the point that she would be the most electable in a general election against President Joe Biden, highlighting polling that shows her leading Biden in a hypothetical matchup by double digits.
“If we go into a general election, Ron doesn’t defeat Biden. Trump is head to head with Biden. On a good day, he is up by 2 — the Wall Street Journal had him up by 4 points; that’s in the margin of error,” Haley said. “I’m up in every one of those polls. I defeat Joe Biden by 17 points,” she added as voters applauded.
Haley’s support from registered Democrats isn’t just limited to eastern Iowa.
“I’m a lifelong Democrat, and I’m so proud to be supporting you,” a woman told Haley at her town hall in Indianola, a suburb of Des Moines. “I sure hope our state does not elect Donald Trump. It would make me sick.”
Haley’s campaign has not detailed outreach efforts in Iowa and whether they are targeting registered Independents or Democrats but emphasized the candidate is a “tried and true conservative.”
“Republicans have lost the popular vote in seven out of the last eight presidential elections, and that’s nothing to be proud of, “ Haley spokeswoman Olivia Perez-Cubas said. “The Republican Party should be a story of addition.”
In New Hampshire, there appears to be a more intentional effort to mobilize centrists. The super PAC Independents for Nikki began running ads in New Hampshire late last month, showcasing the voices of independent voters.
Haley’s opponents are seizing on her appeal to independents and Democrats. Trump’s super PAC released an ad this week accusing Haley of opposing the former president’s border wall. The ad ends with the line “Nikki Haley: too weak, too liberal to fix the border.”
Haley continues to defend herself on the campaign trail, claiming the former president is mischaracterizing her record.
“I appreciate all of the attention President Trump is giving me — it is quite sweet and thoughtful of him — but he’s lying about it,” Haley quipped during a Fox News town hall on Monday night. “He’s lying because he’s taking snippets of things I said. I said you shouldn’t just do the border wall. You have to do more than that.”
DeSantis continues to try to tie the former U.N. ambassador to Democratic former Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, citing comments Haley has made about how Clinton inspired her to run for office. The attack is seen in ads from the pro-DeSantis Super PAC, Fight Back.
“Haley was asked yesterday why she said Hillary Clinton was an inspiration to her, and her response was that she never said that,” DeSantis said during a campaign stop in Grimes on Sunday. “That’s a lie; she wrote that in her book. OK, you were inspired to run for office, not by Ronald Reagan or Margaret Thatcher but by Hillary Clinton.”
Haley continues to cite a speech Clinton gave in 2003, in which she discussed the importance of women running for office. Haley’s full comments indicate she wasn’t lauding Clinton for ideological similarities but rather for encouraging women to break down barriers in politics and government.
“I don’t know if I have ever agreed with Hillary Clinton on anything,” Haley said, speaking to a conference of young conservative leaders on Friday night. “She said, ‘For every reason they tell you not to run, that’s every reason you should.’ I walked out of there and said I’m running for the Statehouse.”
The DeSantis campaign is highlighting that Democrats have donated to super PACs supporting Haley. Reid Hoffman, a prominent Democratic donor and the co-founder of LinkedIn, donated $250,000 to a pro-Haley super PAC, the SFA Fund. JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon recently encouraged Democrats to back Haley to provide Republican voters an alternative to Trump.
“While Haley hobbles to the finish line in Iowa, relying on her Wall Street and Democrat donors to rescue her as she and her super PAC spend more than any other candidate/pacs, Ron DeSantis continues to outwork and out-organize the competition in the Hawkeye State and is firing on all cylinders in the closing stretch,” said Andrew Romeo, communications director the DeSantis campaign in a statement to the Washington Examiner.
The last time that only a Republican caucus was held in Iowa was in 2012. According to Iowa voter registration statistics, up to 11% of Iowans who participated were Democrats or independents who changed their party affiliation on caucus day. Iowa GOP Chairman Jeff Kaufman is warning Democrats against purposely acting as “spoilers” in the caucuses.
“Shame on Democrats, I mean, they’ve screwed up first-in-the-nation, they didn’t push back on their national party, and now their reaction isn’t to rebuild their party,” Kaufman said, speaking with reporters on Monday. “Now, while we’ve got center stage, their reaction is to show up and try to screw up what we’ve done? Think about what that says about their party,” he added.
Some Iowa Republican caucusgoers admit they have concerns about Haley’s support among some Democrats and independents.
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“I’m a little afraid of Nikki Haley coming up because of what I’m hearing about her that she is catering to the Democrats,” said Sandy Johnson, 79, a voter from Keokuk, Iowa.
“She is kind of getting more support. I understand it’s coming from wealthy Democrats and people that want her to win and because they think they would have some control over her because they would have been funding her,” he added.
Naomi Lim contributed to this report.
