RICHMOND, Va. – Republican Ed Gillespie brought South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley to Virginia this week to help him talk about his plans to run an inclusive, policy-based campaign for governor in 2017.
Haley, 44, the youngest governor in the country, the first woman to serve as chief executive of her state and the daughter of Indian immigrants, said she supported Gillespie’s strategy to reach out to minority groups not known for supporting Republicans.
“All you have to do is listen,” Haley told a crowd of about 150 Republican activists, elected officials and lobbyists who gathered at a suburban Richmond hotel Tuesday. “And not just Indian Americans – it’s Mexican Americans, it’s Jewish Americans. When we run for office, our job is to work for everybody. You can’t work for everybody if you don’t listen to everybody.”
The event was billed as a “conversation about public policy” and was sandwiched between fundraisers for Gillespie, a longtime GOP strategist who nearly unseated Sen. Mark R. Warner, D-Virginia, two years ago.
The format was intended to display Gillespie’s high-profile connections in national politics and paint him as the inevitable GOP nominee for next year’s race despite competition from Rep. Rob Wittman, R-Virginia, and Corey Stewart, chairman of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors.
In their emphasis on inclusion, Haley and Gillespie seemed to be trying to draw a contrast with mogul Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, which has been marked by controversial comments about women, Hispanics and Muslims, and a policy agenda that critics say lacks depth.
Yet asked whether the Trump campaign has contacted her about joining the Republican ticket as the vice-presidential candidate, Haley hinted that there have been conversations.
“I have said I’m not going to run for VP or interested in VP,” she said, adding: “I have not talked to any of his surrogates. I have talked to people that are in the know.”
Like Gillespie, Haley told reporters she would support Trump, even though she took a swipe at him in January in the GOP response to the State of the Union, urging the party to ignore the “siren call of the angriest voices,” and recently tangled with him during the primary in her state.
A rising-star governor who called for the removal of the Confederate flag from the grounds of the state capitol last summer, Haley endorsed Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Florida, for president in February and demanded that Trump release his tax returns. That drew a rebuke from Trump via Twitter, prompting the Southern governor to respond with a sarcastic “Bless your heart.”
Asked how they could reconcile Trump’s divisive tone with their goal of expanding the GOP’s appeal, Gillespie and Haley said that Trump is better than the alternative — Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton — and that control of the Supreme Court is at stake.
“I think this is a very important election in November in terms of the future of the country,” Gillespie told reporters. “[It’s] not just about the White House for the next four years. It is about control of the court for a generation or more, the Supreme Court. And so I’m for him.”
At the event, Gillespie and Haley answered friendly questions from the crowd, including state Sen. Siobhan S. Dunnavant, R-Henrico, an aide to Virginia House Majority Leader M. Kirkland Cox, R-Colonial Heights, and a young boy who asked about educational standards.
Haley also took aim at a target shared by Virginia Republicans of all stripes: Gov. Terry McAuliffe (D). She attacked the central theme of his administration, saying Virginia’s economy has taken a “nosedive,” the state is nearly last in terms of job growth, and South Carolina no longer competes with Virginia for jobs.
“I know he will be a jobs governor,” she said, referring to Gillespie. “I want another competitor. I’m a little bored.”
McAuliffe spokesman Brian Coy pushed back against the characterization, citing Virginia’s 4 percent unemployment rate, compared with 5.7 percent in South Carolina.
“That is tough talk from the governor of a state with an unemployment rate a full 1.7% higher than Virginia’s,” Coy said in a statement. “Governor McAuliffe also left his state today trying to create jobs, but he’s focused on new employment for Virginia families, not Republican politicians.”
McAuliffe is on a four-day trip to Boston, Montreal and Toronto to promote Virginia oysters, wine, craft beer and outdoor recreation through receptions and media interviews.
More than a year and a half ahead of the Virginia governor’s race in 2017, Gillespie is aggressively building a campaign treasury and rolling out endorsements.
In addition to Tuesday’s public event, Haley helped raise money for his PAC at a luncheon in Virginia Beach and a reception at a donor’s home in Richmond. The campaign declined to quantify the day’s haul, but last month the PAC announced a fundraising total of nearly $750,000.
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