Haley stumps in Cedar Falls as temperatures continue to drop

Nikki Haley played up the brutally cold weather conditions and general campaign fatigue during an in-person event Saturday morning in downtown Cedar Falls as the Iowa caucus continues to wind down.

“Two days ’til caucus,” Haley, who is campaigning for the top of the Republican presidential ticket, told an overflow crowd packed into Second State Brewery to cheers. “I know why you’re excited: In two days, no more commercials, no more mail, no more text messages.”

Crowd cheers as Haley plays to campaign fatigue:
“I know why you’re excited” for the Caucus to finally come: “No more commercials, no more mail, no more text messages.” pic.twitter.com/AJwEA0e0Ib

— Amie Rivers (@amierrivers) January 13, 2024

The former South Carolina governor also alluded to the single-digit temperatures that morning. With the wind chill, temperatures were as low as -17 degrees as of 10:30 a.m.

“I love that you came out in the cold,” she said. “There’s one thing I know for sure: I am not in South Carolina anymore.”

Haley said she thought it was cold campaigning in the state “in October or November,” and noted Iowans “laughed” at that notion then.

“They go, ‘Oh, this is mild,’ and I was like, ‘No, it’s cold,'” she said, to laughter. “I get it now, I totally get it now.”

Haley notes she thought Iowa was cold last fall and notes Iowans mocked her for thinking that. “I totally get it now.” pic.twitter.com/S0B5yUfzBO

— Amie Rivers (@amierrivers) January 13, 2024

Other than those comments, her campaign speech was roughly the same points she’s previously made on the campaign trail.

As President, Haley said she would tackle the “hundreds of billions of dollars” in fraud from COVID-era unemployment insurance programs (the US Department of Labor has been working on this already), veto “any spending bill that doesn’t take us back to pre-COVID levels,” send “as many federal programs as we can” to the states, “eliminate federal gas and diesel tax,” and make small business tax cuts “permanent” like corporate tax cuts to help the “middle class.”

Former President Donald Trump is widely expected to win the Iowa Republican Caucus, but Haley hopes for a better showing than Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. That plus strong showings in upcoming New Hampshire and her home state of South Carolina, which goes third in the nominating process, will position her as the Trump alternative.