Nikki Haley Expresses Optimism After Third Place Finish at Iowa Caucuses Transcript

"You can't do it unless you have a faith and God is so good. I want to say to my husband who is deployed, who I know may or may not be watching this right now. Michael, I love you. And what keeps me going is I know we sleep under the same stars. So I to say to Rena, and Josh, and Nalin, I am so proud of you. The best job I will always have is being your mom. I want to thank my parents who are at home every day. They reminded us how blessed we were to live in America. I want to thank my sweet brother who came out here and was caucusing for me, a good Desert Storm veteran, and I want to thank my other siblings there.

I want to thank Michael's parents, Bill and Carol Haley who've been fantastic along the way as well. You can't do this without the strength of your family. I want to congratulate President Trump on his win tonight. We have had an amazing 11 months here in the Hawkeye state. I came to Iowa early and often and I kept coming back even though the cold weather is brutal. But the kindness of Iowans will never be lost on me. You're faithful, patriotic, and hardworking Americans and I will forever be grateful for the time that we had.

At one point in this campaign, there were 14 of us running. I was at 2% in the polls. But tonight, Iowa did what Iowa always does so well. The pundits will analyze the results from every angle. We get that. But when you look at how we're doing in New Hampshire, in South Carolina, and beyond, I can safely say tonight, Iowa made this Republican primary a two-person race. Tonight, I will be back in the great state of New Hampshire. And the question before Americans is now very clear. Do you want more of the same?

Or do you want a new generation of conservative leadership? I've spoken a lot of hard truths to America. And here's another one. I voted for Donald Trump twice. I was proud to serve in his administration, but when I say more of the same, you know what I'm talking about. It's both Donald Trump and Joe Biden. They have more in common than you think. 70% of Americans don't want another Trump-Biden rematch. A majority disprove of both of them. Trump and Biden are both about 80 years old.

Trump and Biden both put our country trillions of dollars deeper in debt and our kids will never forgive them for it. Trump and Biden both lack of vision for our country's future because both are consumed by the past, by investigations, by vendettas, by grievances. America deserves better.

We deserve a new direction under new conservative leadership. We deserve a president who will focus on the needs of our people, not on themselves. A president who will rebuild our economy, close our border, and stand up to our enemies. Most importantly, we deserve a president who will stop our self-loathing in division and fear and make America strong and proud.

Our campaign is the last best hope of stopping the Trump-Biden nightmare. But it's more than that. Republicans have lost the popular vote in seven of the last eight presidential elections. That's nothing to be proud of. We should want to earn the support of a majority of Americans. All the evidence says that if it's a Trump-Biden rematch, it's going to be another toss-up election. It could go either way. We could have more disputes over election interference and Joe Biden could win again with Kamala Harris waiting in the wings.

Lord, help us if that happens. And then look at what happens when I go head-to-head against Biden. We win in a landslide. It's not even close. That means no recounts, no lawsuits and no doubts. It means no more Chuck Schumer leading the Senate. No more endless votes for house speaker because we'll have a huge house majority. We'll term limit the do-nothing Washington politicians. We'll rebuild our economy and secure our border. No more excuses. And make no mistake, we will restore our national pride. We are blessed to live in America and it's time that we remember that. And as we head to New Hampshire, I have one more thing to say.

Underestimate me because that's always fun. I love you Iowa, but we're on to New Hampshire.

Thank you. Now I have some people I need to thank right here in Iowa. We have so many great supporters and I only have time to mention a few. But it's important. Marlys Popma, many of you know and love Marlys who has been a conservative fighter her entire career. State Senator Chris Cournoyer, our amazing state chair who has been hustling all over this state, but she has been a fantastic friend. Thank you, Chris for all that you've done. Our state rep, Austin Harris, our very first endorsement in Iowa. He believed in us when not a lot of people did.

Mary Anne Hanusa who helped us organize across the state, but particularly in southwest Iowa. Don Roberts. Don has made more calls and recruited more caucus captains than anyone else. Thank you, Don. Emily Schmidt and Rachel Geilenfeld are amazing women for Nicky Chairs. Bill and Connie Funk. Y'all have been amazing friends. Thank you for everything. I truly do love you both. Thank you.

The great mayor of Nevada, Brett Barker who helped us organize in Story County. And I want to thank the many people who got out in the cold and it's cold and knocked on those doors. You are true patriots and you made a difference in this race, and I will forever be thankful. And we have some people who went through a lot of travel hurdles to get here, but I got to tell you, I've got three friends who continue to show up every time. Congressman Ralph Norman, thank you, thank you, thank you. Senator Tom Davis who drove like 800 miles to be here.

Nathan Ballentine, who's always been my partner in crime. Thank you, Iowa. We're going to continue on. We're going to make you proud, and we're off to New Hampshire. Thank you very much."

Source