Ron DeSantis may want Nikki Haley to debate him in a two-person face-off on Fox News.
But the former South Carolina Governor won’t be trolled into it, she made clear on Thursday’s edition of the “Guy Benson Show.”
“See you in Tuscaloosa,” Haley said, telling Benson that the Republican National Committee said that the only debates candidates could have would have to be officially sanctioned by the party, with the fourth such showdown slated for Alabama in December.
This rejection pops a brief trial balloon floated by the Florida Governor this week at the goading of a friendly Fox News host.
“Count me in,” the Governor posted to X Wednesday, in response to a Laura Ingraham call for Haley and DeSantis to debate on her program.
It’s uncertain why Haley would have agreed to a debate on likely unfriendly terrain, given that the Fox News host accused the former South Carolina Governor of “political suicide” last week after she got praise from the center after her performance in the presidential debate in Miami.
“There’s no future in the Republican Party for someone who’s been endorsed by POLITICO and The New York Times,” Ingraham pronounced, as transcribed by Media Matters.
Conversely, Ingraham lauded DeSantis, saying he emerged “strongest” from the debate and was the only candidate with a “presidential” mien.
According to a poll released Thursday that touched on last week’s GOP presidential debate in Miami, Ingraham’s take is not shared by those in the First in the Nation Primary state.
Just 10% of respondents in the University of New Hampshire survey say he prevailed, with 28% choosing Ramaswamy and 37% hailing Haley’s performance.
DeSantis has gotten a lot of mileage out of another scheduled debate on Fox News with California Gov. Gavin Newsom, who is not running for president at the moment. That showdown is slated for later this month.
When asked about the dubious debate set-up, it’s clear after Haley’s harrumph that lightning won’t strike twice during cable news prime-time programming.
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