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The Seattle Times editorial board is strongly endorsing President Joe Biden not only in Washington’s March 12 presidential primary, but for the November election as well.
However, on the primary’s GOP side, state voters have a credible choice in Nikki Haley. The reasons to avoid former President Donald Trump are too numerous to mention and not a mystery to anyone paying attention to his history of lying, maligning and encouraging an effort to overturn his election defeat. He faces state and federal criminal charges and was ordered recently to pay $83 million for defaming a woman that a New York jury concluded he had sexually assaulted.
Haley, on the other hand, has an actual record as a serious public servant, South Carolina governor and a credible ambassador to the United Nations. She is more conservative than this editorial board is comfortable with for the top job. And her association with Trump has been troublesome.
But, in making the case for her candidacy, she is demonstrating more courage than most of the men who already have left the race ever did. She has made missteps (ignoring that, yep, slavery was a major factor in the Civil War, for instance).
While Trump fawns over the dictators of Russia and North Korea, she is on to them and the geopolitical threats they pose. While Trump is making up names for his adversaries, she is lamenting eighth-grade test scores. While he is demanding House Republicans resist a solution for the U.S. border crisis so he can use it as a campaign cudgel, she wants it prioritized and is not averse to compromise. While Trump and the right-wing media spin up the Taylor Swift conspiracy endorsement theory, she laughs and says, “I don’t get it.” Then adds that she has taken her daughter to one of the star’s concerts and enjoyed it.
While many polls suggest that Trump has the race for Republican delegates in the bag, Haley is not giving up, pledging to hang in through Super Tuesday on March 5 at least. Interestingly, many polls show she is more likely to beat Biden than Trump is.
Though this editorial board disagrees with Haley on most issues, she is an authentic public servant and a woman of substance. Better yet, she is not afraid of the former president.
Washington Republicans who want to support a candidate of integrity would do well to support Haley in the state’s primary.
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