Presidential candidate Nikki Haley speaking to supporters at the Polish American Citizens Club on Nov. 2. Courtesy photo/Nikki Haley For President

NASHUA – Speaking at the Polish American Citizens Club on Nov. 2, presidential candidate Nikki Haley shared advice her mother once gave her: “quit complaining about it, do something about it.”

After graduating from Clemson University with a degree in accounting, Haley quickly learned the challenges of making a living in corporate America.

“One day, I happened to be telling my mom how hard it was to make a dollar and how easy it was for the government to take it,” said Haley.

After that conversation with her mother, Haley knew what she had to do.

In 2004, she ran for a seat in the South Carolina House of Representatives and defeated longtime State Rep. Larry Koon in a runoff election. At the time, Koon was the longest-serving member of the House.

“I truly did not know you weren’t supposed to run against a 30-year incumbent in a primary, but ignorance is bliss,” said Haley.

After three terms in the House, she went on to serve as governor of South Carolina from 2011 to 2017. Haley also served as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations from 2017 to 2018.

“I’m going to tell you what I told South Carolinians when I became governor,” she said. “No more whining. No more complaining. Now we get to work.”

Looking at the economy, Haley said there is still $500 billion in unspent COVID-19 relief funds.

“Let’s go after the hundreds of billions of dollars of covered fraud,” she said. “I will stop the spending, I’ll stop the borrowing. We will eliminate the earmarks and I’ll veto any spending bill that doesn’t take us back to pre-COVID levels.”

She also spoke about her husband, who in January 2012, was deployed for one year in Afghanistan with the South Carolina Army National Guard.

“When my husband returned from Afghanistan, it was a blessed day. We loved the hugs, we loved the fact that he was safe. But that was the easy part,” she said. “When we got home, life got hard. Michael couldn’t hear loud noises, he couldn’t be in crowds. Life had passed him by for the year that he was deployed and the transition was tough.”

Haley highlighted the need for improved transition services for soldiers returning home.

“We can’t just love our men and women when they’re gone. We’ve got to love them when they come back home too,” she said. “We have to start doing better with that transition. We have to make sure we have Telehealth so that they can get the mental health care they need right when they need it. Let them go to the doctor or hospital of their choice.”

Regarding national security, Haley said “the world is on fire.”

“You’ve got Russia who’s invaded Ukraine, war in Europe, you’ve got war in the Middle East with the horrific tragedies of what happened on Oct. 7. You’ve got China on the march,” she said, adding that those conflicts would have been avoided if President Joe Biden did not authorize the U.S. military to withdraw from Afghanistan in August 2021.

“We have got to stop acting like it’s Sept. 10, [2001],” she said. “We better remember what Sept. 12 felt like because America can never be so arrogant to think we don’t need friends.”

Prior to Haley’s Nashua visit, Aida Ross, spokesperson for the New Hampshire Democratic Party, said Haley continues to promote the Make America Great Again agenda popularized by former President Donald Trump.

“She reminds Granite Staters just how eager she is to push the MAGA agenda if elected: tax handouts for the ultra rich, a nationwide abortion ban and a continuation of the disastrous Trump administration foreign policy agenda that she championed as UN ambassador,” said Ross. “If Haley thinks Granite Staters will vote for her extremism in 2024, she’s sorely mistaken.”

As of Nov. 5, the national poll from the Trafalgar Group showed Haley with 15 percent of the vote in the Republican primary. This puts her in second place behind Trump, who has 50 percent.