Nikki Haley's New Generation Presidential Push: 'I Can't Get Through a Day Without God'

CHARLESTON, S.C. - In front of a jam-packed house full of energy and optimism in Charleston, South Carolina, Nikki Haley came out swinging as she begins her quest to become president of the United States. 

"America is not past our prime," she told the crowd. "It's just that our politicians are past theirs." 

In a wide-ranging one-on-one interview with CBN News after the event in Charleston, she zeroed in on her message of generational change. "Elected officials should come do their job and leave and let fresh blood come in," Haley tells CBN News. "That hasn't happened and so we have to have term limits in Congress." 

That mantra also means running against former President Trump. Last year she said she wouldn't run if he did, so what changed?  "We have lost the last seven out of eight popular votes for president," Haley says. "I think it's time for a new generation. I think it's time for someone who can speak that in a way that we bring more people in. And I think it's time that we focus on the fact that we can't keep talking about old issues in the status quo."

In order to make it past Trump or anyone else for that matter, the former United Nations ambassador and South Carolina governor will need support from the evangelical voting bloc. On abortion, she's making a case, saying it's time to pursue certain limits now that the Supreme Court has overturned Roe. 

"They can have the debate on whether that means 15 weeks or 10 weeks or 6 weeks. But let's at least start with the fact that we don't think that abortions up until the time of birth is acceptable, and let's accept the fact that we do want to save as many babies as possible and then go from there," she explained. 

As for courting evangelicals overall, she doesn't think it needs to be an official pitch. The first thing I'll tell you, there is no pitch," Haley tells CBN News. "I am a person that, every day, walks with my faith on my shoulder and knows that I can't get through a day without God. And so I don't need to pitch anyone. I think they see it. I think they feel it. I think they know who I am."

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After growing up in the Sikh faith, Haley converted to Christianity and her announcement speech included some evangelical flavor including a Bible passage about being strong and courageous from the book of Joshua and an opening prayer by prominent pro-Israel evangelical Pastor John Hagee. "He is loved in Israel, he's loved in America," Haley says. "I went to him when I decided I was going to run. I wanted him here to bless this day and boy did he bless it!"

It makes sense that Haley would have Pastor Hagee speak at her event since she has been extremely strong on defending Israel and they both are passionate about defending the Judeo-Christian principles that America was built upon. "Yes, and we don't need to go away from that," Haley tells CBN News. "We need to dig deep. We need to pull into that." 

When asked if that meant doubling down on those Judeo-Christian principles, she answered directly. "Absolutely, and that's why I wanted him to be here because I knew he'd set the tone like nobody else." 

Haley says the tone set by Joe Biden has been a morally dark one, especially when it comes to indoctrinating children on gender ideology. Many evangelicals see what's unfolding in our country today as an example of what the Bible describes as spiritual warfare. 

"It is absolutely spiritual warfare, because you are trying to take parenting away from parents and you're trying to give it to other people. We can't have that happen...this is about parents and their children. This is not about school bureaucrats. This is not about people in D.C. This is about parents and children and their church, and all of those issues need to be decided at home. They don't need to be talked about in schools. They don't need to be spread. All of this wokeism is trying to change the core of what the family is."   

All of this is a very different America from yesteryear, something Haley would like to recapture. "The biggest crisis I see is the national self-loathing that has taken over our country," Haley says. "The media has really gotten to where they've told Americans, our country is bad, our country is racist, our country is rotten to the core and that's just not true. Our country is the best in the world, and we are blessed." 

Haley's candidacy comes at a time when the current GOP power players want an America First agenda that steps back from funding wars like the one between Russia and Ukraine. "I don't think we need to put troops on the ground," Haley says. "I don't think we need to write them blank checks, but they have the passion to fight for their own freedom. Give them the ammunition to do it...if they lose this fight. Russia is not going to stop at Ukraine. They're going to go into Poland, into the Baltics, and we've got a world war on our hands."   

Right now, Haley faces a different kind of battle, and she enters the presidential race without ever having lost an election. "As I set out on this new journey, I will simply say this: may the best woman win!" Haley told the raucous crowd in Charleston. 

This week, Nikki Haley moves on from her home state of South Carolina to the early primary states of New Hampshire and Iowa. It's a key time for Haley because, other than Trump, she pretty much will have the presidential primary stage all to herself, trying to convince voters that she's the one they need to choose.