Nikki Haley has brushed off any notion of playing second fiddle in a Donald Trump administration, despite speculation that she could be on the short list for vice president.
Haley made the comments a day before her underwhelming third-place finish in the Iowa caucuses, which saw Trump storm to victory by a record margin.
“I don’t play for a second. I’ve never played for a second. I’m not going to start now. I’m not interested in being vice president. I’m running to be president and I’m running to win and we will,” she said.
Trump came in first with a commanding 51% lead, with Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley trailing far behind in second and third, respectively.
The DeSantis campaign blamed his stumbles on "election interference" from the media after Trump's commanding lead caused news outlets to call the race unusually early.
Haley, citing her polling in New Hampshire and elsewhere, claimed the results narrowed the primary to a two-person race between Trump and herself.
She is now seeking to drive that message by refusing to debate again unless Trump shows up.
“We’ve had five great debates in this campaign. Unfortunately, Donald Trump has ducked all of them,” Haley said in a statement. “He has nowhere left to hide. The next debate I do will either be with Donald Trump or with Joe Biden. I look forward to it.”
Trump has vigorously criticized Haley, labeling her "Birdbrain," but the relationship between the two is nowhere as bitter as the feud between Trump and DeSantis, who Trump helped lift to political stardom in 2018.
After Trump's dominant performance in Iowa, the guessing game over his running mate will likely intensify as Trump moves closer to clinching the nomination.
At this rate, it looks like neither Haley nor DeSantis will be the nominee, and the odds of either being offered a high-level job in the Trump administration appear very low.
Donald Trump Jr. said Haley has little chance of getting the VP nod and that his father was "probably just trolling" when he said last week that he chose his running mate.
“I doubt that," Don Jr. said, when asked if Haley would be chosen. "I don’t know who it’s going to be. There’s a lot that has to come from that.”
