妮基·黑利在特朗普政府时期担任美国驻联合国大使的特朗普将于下周与弗吉尼亚州共和党州长提名人格伦·扬金(Glenn Youngkin)展开竞选活动，这表明共和党人对可能发生的事情有多认真最具竞争力年度全州赛跑。
“格伦·扬金有能力让弗吉尼亚再次搬家。他是一个有经验的商人和问题解决者，他将创造就业和机会，改善学校，并为弗吉尼亚人民带来成果，”海莉在给美国广播公司新闻的一份声明中说。
杨金说:“她的访问表明，弗吉尼亚今年真的是零基础——我们必须让我们的经济再次运转起来，修复我们的学校，支持执法，照顾我们的退伍军人。”他补充说，他很荣幸有海莉和他一起走在路上。“当投票在9月份开始时，我们有巨大的机会为我们的联邦带来更光明的一天。”
不包括德州参议员。特德·克鲁兹她是杨金的朋友，并在5月份的共和党提名大会之前支持了他，她是南卡罗来纳州的第一位女州长，也是潜在的2024年总统候选人，她将是为这位前投资公司首席执行官竞选的最引人注目的共和党人，这标志着她第一次在这个周期与候选人一起竞选。
只有弗吉尼亚和新泽西州推迟一年选举对于他们的最高行政职位，尽管这两个州近年来都呈蓝色趋势，但对民主党人来说，这两次竞选都不是板上钉钉的事。具体而言，在弗吉尼亚州，11月的选举将考验联邦是否已经完全失去战场地位，或者民主党在过去四年全州和立法选举中的主导地位是否更像是对前总统的拒绝唐纳德·特朗普比共和党还要多。
哈利和扬金将于周二在里士满和周三在北弗吉尼亚州一起竞选。在两个可靠的民主党地区停留突显了这位提名人在大选活动中的做法，他将自己描绘成温和派候选人，而民主党人则指责他隐瞒了他们认为的“极端主义”观点在里士满，他们计划与志愿者会面并发表讲话，在北弗吉尼亚州，他们将与两个扬金竞选联盟“妇女支持格伦”和“退伍军人支持扬金”举行活动，讨论退伍军人和经济问题。扬金周四早些时候宣布了他支持弗吉尼亚州退伍军人的计划。在过去的两周，他还公布了他的综合教育计划的第一部分，重点是学校、学生和研究，以及他打击英联邦人口贩运的计划。
扬金面对的是民主党人特里·麦考利夫也曾是一名商人。
但同样是民主党全国委员会前主席的麦考利夫此前已经当选弗吉尼亚州州长。2013年，他打破了所谓的“弗吉尼亚诅咒”，即如果候选人与现任白宫主人有相同的党派关系，他们将在联邦休赛期州长竞选中失败。随着他的朋友乔·拜登总统现在入主白宫，麦考利夫打算再次这样做。
在弗吉尼亚州，现任州长不能寻求连任。麦考利夫，谁赢了其他四名民主党人在6月的初选中，他将自己定位为一名候选人，能够在他第一个任期开始并在现任州长拉尔夫·诺森的政府下继续取得进展的基础上继续前进。
下周在里士满时，扬金和海莉可能会与新亮相的广告牌面对面，这些广告牌由民主党州长协会出资，指责扬金与麦考利夫“逃避辩论”。
麦考利夫竞选团队在6月中旬宣布，他已经接受了五次大选辩论的邀请。到目前为止，扬金已经接受了阿巴拉契亚法学院8月或9月的一次辩论邀请。一位竞选发言人说，他在三月份接受了邀请。这位发言人在对美国广播公司新闻的一份声明中说，杨金“迫不及待地想和职业政治家特里·麦考利夫进行辩论”，但计划和他一起参加总共三场辩论，而不是五场。
这位发言人说:“只有像麦考利夫这样的弱势现任者需要辩论五次，希望能弥补失去的优势。
周三宣布，在DGA赞助的广告牌上，人们看到杨金躲在角落里，特朗普的照片被醒目地展示出来。捆绑杨金对支持共和党候选人的特朗普来说，这是民主党和麦考利夫竞选团队反复上演的一出戏。
一个广告牌上写着扬金“躲在辩论中隐藏他的极端观点(他得到了唐纳德·特朗普的支持)”，而另一个广告牌上写着“嘿，格伦·扬金，害怕辩论吗?(我们也会。但我们不是唐纳德·特朗普钦点的州长候选人。”
尽管特朗普支持杨金，但称这位被提名人是他“精心挑选的候选人”会产生误导，因为这位前总统直到杨金已经获得提名后才支持他。自支持以来，特朗普没有就杨金或弗吉尼亚州州长竞选发表声明。
6月16日，哈雷和现任的德克萨斯州、马里兰州、北达科他州和田纳西州的共和党州长一起支持了扬金。她被认为是白宫的希望，6月下旬对爱荷华州的多站访问增加了2024年的猜测，爱荷华州已经举行了第一次共和党提名竞选总统初选日历自20世纪70年代以来，每四年。
据the得梅因登记册。虽然成立“支持美国行动委员会”的哈雷在那次访问中坚称，她的重点是帮助共和党在2022年中期选举中夺回众议院和美国参议院的控制权，但前往中西部州或其他三个早期初选州——新罕布什尔州、内华达州和南卡罗来纳州——即使是在总统大选年的三年前，也不会被忽视。
她不是助长猜测的唯一潜在共和党竞争者。阿肯色州参议员汤姆·科顿上周在爱荷华州，南卡罗来纳州参议员蒂姆·斯科特在4月中旬进行了一次旅行。前副总统迈克·彭斯4月下旬在南卡罗来纳州发表了他执政后的第一次演讲，之后他也去了新罕布什尔州，他说他和特朗普可能永远不会对1月6日的事件“看法一致”。特朗普政府的另一名毕业生、前国务卿迈克·蓬佩奥已经至少去了一次爱荷华州，但下周将再次去那里，还有彭斯和另一名可能的候选人南卡罗来纳州州长克里斯蒂·诺姆。本月底，蓬佩奥将在南卡罗来纳州共和党的签名筹款会上发表主旨演讲。
然而，笼罩着所有这些访问的是前总统，他曾多次取笑东山再起2024年，同时继续毫无根据地宣称他是11月大选的真正赢家。海莉曾表示，如果特朗普参选，她不会参选。
Nikki Haley to campaign in Virginia with GOP gubernatorial nominee Glenn Youngkin
Nikki Haley, who served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations during the Trump administration, will hit the campaign trail next week with Virginia's Republican gubernatorial nominee, Glenn Youngkin, a sign of how seriously Republicans are taking what's likely themost competitivestatewide race of the year.
"Glenn Youngkin has what it takes to get Virginia moving again. He's an experienced businessman and problem solver who will create jobs and opportunity, improve schools and deliver results for the people of Virginia," Haley said in a statement to ABC News.
"Her visit shows that Virginia really is ground zero this year -- we have to get our economy moving again, fix our schools, support law enforcement and take care of our veterans," said Youngkin, who added he's honored to have Haley on the trail with him. "When voting starts in September we have a huge opportunity to bring a brighter day to our commonwealth."
Excluding Texas Sen.Ted Cruz, who's a friend of Youngkin's and who endorsed him ahead of the GOP nominating convention in May, Haley, South Carolina's first female governor and a potential 2024 presidential candidate, will be the most high-profile Republican to stump for the former investment firm CEO, and it marks her first time on the trail with a candidate this cycle.
Only Virginia andNew Jerseyhold off-yearelectionsfor their top executive posts, and while both states have trended blue in recent years, neither race is a done deal for Democrats. In Virginia specifically, November's election will test whether the commonwealth has completely lost its battleground status or if Democrats' dominance in statewide and legislative elections over the last four years was more a rejection of former PresidentDonald Trumpthan the Republican Party altogether.
Haley and Youngkin will campaign together on Tuesday in Richmond and Wednesday in Northern Virginia. Stopping in two reliable Democratic regions underscores the nominee's approach to the general election campaign, painting himself as moderate candidate while Democrats accuse him of hiding views they are casting as "extremist." In Richmond, they plan to meet with volunteers and give remarks, and in Northern Virginia, they will hold events with two Youngkin campaign coalitions, Women for Glenn and Veterans for Youngkin, to discuss veterans and economic issues. Youngkin announced his plan to support Virginia's veterans earlier Thursday. Over the past two weeks, he's also unveiled the first part of his comprehensive education plan, which focuses on schools, students and studies, and his plan to combat human trafficking in the commonwealth.
Youngkinis facing DemocratTerry McAuliffe, who is also a former businessman.
But McAuliffe, also a former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, has already been elected governor of Virginia before. In 2013 he broke the so-called "Virginia curse" of candidates losing the commonwealth's off-year gubernatorial race if they had the same party affiliation as the current occupant of the White House. With his friend President Joe Biden in the White House now, McAuliffe is aiming to do that again.
In Virginia, incumbent governors cannot seek consecutive terms. McAuliffe, who beat outfour other Democratsin June's primary, is pitching himself as the candidate who can build on progress that started in his first term and continued under current Gov. Ralph Northam's administration.
While in Richmond next week, Youngkin and Haley may come face-to-face with newly unveiled billboards, paid for by the Democratic Governors Association, accusing Youngkin of "hiding from debates" with McAuliffe.
The McAuliffe campaign announced in mid-June he had accepted invitations for five general election debates. Youngkin has so far accepted one debate invitation, at the Appalachian School of Law sometime in August or September. A campaign spokesperson said he accepted the invitation back in March. In a statement to ABC News, the spokesperson said Youngkin "can't wait to debate career politician Terry McAuliffe," but plans to participate in three debates total with him, not five.
"Only weak incumbents like McAuliffe need to debate five times in the hopes of making up lost ground," the spokesperson said.
In the DGA-sponsored billboards, announced Wednesday, Youngkin is seen ducking in the corner, and a photo of Trump is prominently displayed.Tying Youngkinto Trump, who has endorsed the Republican candidate, has been a recurring play by Democrats and the McAuliffe campaign.
One billboard says Youngkin is "hiding from debates to hide his extreme views (and that he's endorsed by Donald Trump)," while the other says, "Hey Glenn Youngkin, scared to debate? (We would be too. But we're not Donald Trump's hand-picked candidate for governor)."
While Trump has endorsed Youngkin, calling the nominee his "hand-picked candidate" is misleading, as the former president did not back him until Youngkin had already secured the nomination. Trump has not sent a statement about Youngkin or the Virginia gubernatorial campaign since the endorsement.
Haley endorsed Youngkin, along with the current Republican governors of Texas, Maryland, North Dakota and Tennessee on June 16. Considered a White House hopeful, she added to the 2024 speculation with a late June multi-stop visit to Iowa, which has held the first Republican nominating contest of thepresidential primary calendarevery four years since the 1970s.
Haley gave the keynote address at the Republican Party of Iowa's annual Lincoln Dinner in Des Moines and also participated in a few other events and fundraisers for Republicans, according to theDes Moines Register. While Haley, who founded the Stand For America PAC, insisted during that visit that her focus is on helping Republicans take back control of the House of Representatives and U.S. Senate in the 2022 midterms, trips to the Midwest state, or the other three early primary states -- New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina -- even three years prior to a presidential election year, don't go unnoticed.
She's not the only potential GOP contender fueling speculation. Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton was in Iowa last week, and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott made a trip in mid-April. Former Vice President Mike Pence's first post-administration speech was in South Carolina in late April, and he's since gone to New Hampshire, too, where he saidhe and Trump may never"see eye to eye" on the events of Jan. 6. Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, another Trump administration alum, has already made at least one trip to Iowa, but will be there again next week, along with Pence and South Carolina Gov. Kristi Noem, another possible candidate. At the end of the month, Pompeo will be giving the keynote speech at the South Carolina Republican Party's signature fundraiser.
Looming over all of these visits, however, is the former president, who has repeatedlyteased a comeback bidin 2024 while continuing to baselessly claim that he was the real winner in November's election. Haley has said she would not run if Trump does.
