Two of the Palmetto State’s favorite sons (a daughter and son, technically) appear to be entering the 2024 presidential race. Former governor Nikki Haley is set to make a formal announcement in the coming weeks, and current senator Tim Scott is embarking on a “Faith in America” tour, raising speculation that he, too, is preparing to launch a bid for the Oval Office.
Some political analysts have questioned the raison d’être of Haley and Scott’s respective forays into the contest, doubting whether either is motivated by something other than blind ambition. Most of these critics have emphasized the political pitfalls of their candidacies, highlighting how Haley and Scott may only be hastening a rechristening of Donald Trump as the Republican nominee. Phil Klein, for example, noted that:
In one poll, from the South Carolina Policy Council, Florida governor Ron DeSantis crushes Trump in a head-to-head matchup in the state, 52 percent to 33 percent. In another poll from Trafalgar, with a larger field, Trump is ahead of DeSantis 43–28, and the combined support of Scott (14 percent) and Haley (12 percent) could more than make up the difference.
Phil makes a good point here. If too many non-Trump candidates jump into the running, they could split the anti-Trump vote, invariably handing Trump the nomination, just as they did in 2016. A few months ago, I made a similar argument about why conservatives should coalesce around DeSantis if he chooses to run. As Dan McLaughlin explains, however, there are reasons to believe that a divided field won’t be plagued by the same collective-action problems this time.
There’s another reason for welcoming Haley and Scott to the 2024 contest: ideological diversity. Some might scoff at this claim. Both candidates in some sense represent the pre-2016 Republican consensus that many regard with contempt. However, it’s undeniable that the ranks, or at least the influence of, traditional conservatives such as Haley and Scott have diminished somewhat in the GOP. Much of the party and “Conservatism Inc.” has made a decisive turn in the “America First” direction in recent years, going to great pains to devise an intellectually coherent Trumpism. In the process, much of what had come to define the Republican Party since 1980 has atrophied. This hasn’t been all bad — some of the ossified mantras of the pre-Trump era needed to be shed and updated. Somewhere along the way, unfortunately, values such as American exceptionalism, individual liberty, and fidelity to the Constitution and the rule of law have become passé, impairing the party both politically and morally as a result.
Haley and Scott afford Republicans a chance for renewal. Neither is perfect, but they offer a vision of optimism and commitment to bettering the America that we have, rather than one that only exists in the abstract, at a moment when both traits are severely lacking on the right.