LEXINGTON, S.C. — Even as former President Donald Trump is poised to win South Carolina’s Republican primary Saturday, there’s a notable subset of voters backing Nikki Haley in hopes of stopping Trump’s momentum toward becoming the nominee. Their votes for Haley, their former governor, are more about blocking Trump than supporting her record leading the state.
The votes for Haley are coming from both Republicans and Democrats in the Palmetto State. In South Carolina voters can participate in either of the parties’ primary elections. Several days reporting in the state revealed plenty of voters taking the opportunity to back Haley because of negative feelings about Trump. Some of the reasons voters gave an Annenberg Media reporter about why Trump should not be on the ballot this November included his policies on social issues, active lawsuits, and the need for new party leadership.
Exactly a week before the primary, early voters showed up to the Lexington Voter Registration Office, a long tan building which also had two white tents in front for easy curbside voting. It looked like an ordinary shopping center, but instead of going to a Michaels or T.J. Maxx, people came out on a cold morning to cast their ballots for the first-in-the-south Republican primary.
A man walked out of the building in a zip-up hoodie with a gray t-shirt under that had a rainbow heart on it peeking out of the jacket. He was with his wife Heather Liasfha. They have lived for more than a decade in South Carolina, where Liasfha works as an R.N., and they are now questioning moving out of the state and possibly the country.
The couple has a transgender son and said they fear for his safety in South Carolina. While they both identify as Democrats, they showed up here on Feb. 18 to vote for Haley.
Liasfha said Trump getting back into office would lead to more laws like the transgender healthcare bill that is currently being debated in the South Carolina Senate.
Liasfha and her husband are part of a movement of South Carolina Democrats who registered for the Republican primary to vote for Haley in an attempt to stop Trump from winning. PrimaryPivot, an organization working to weaken Trump, is calling on Independent and Democrat voters to join people like Liasfha in registering for the primary.
In a media advisory sent last week, the co-founder of PrimaryPivot Robert Schwartz said, “Democrats and Independents have said for nine years that Trump is a unique threat to our democracy. Well now is the time to put our democracy first and vote against Trump.”
PrimaryPivot has also started promoting the same movement in Colorado, Michigan, and Virginia — states that allow for crossover voting in their upcoming primary contests.
Drew McKissick, the chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party, said he strongly condemns this effort.
In a press release sent Monday, McKissick said their primary “has the best track record in the country for picking presidents, and I’m not going to sit back and allow Democrats to tarnish our reputation.”
In an interview the same day, McKissick told reporters since the primary began in 1980, “no Republican has ever become president of the United States without winning the South Carolina primary,” said McKissick.
Democrats are not the only ones coming to the polls voting against Trump. Some Republicans told Annenberg Media they do not want Trump as the nominee in November and are choosing to vote for Haley to prevent that from happening.
Katherine Barroll, a 67-year-old practicing attorney in Columbia, said she strongly wants to avoid a Trump-Biden general election rematch.
“Hades would have to freeze hell over before I vote for Trump,” Barroll said slowly with a thick twang while shaking her finger in the air.
Barroll said she did not remember anything significant about Haley’s time as her governor but still voted for her. She cited Trump’s legal battles and his role in the January 6 insurrection as her main reasons.
Other Republican voters said they are not happy with the current state of the party and do not like either of the candidates on the ballot. They expressed that change in the party leadership is not going to come from Trump returning to the Oval Office.
Dave Kelly is a Republican veteran who lives in Lexington. He said he does not have faith in the future of the party but still chooses to identify with it.
Kelly said he liked Trump’s charisma but that his approach to the presidency was too authoritarian. He liked Haley as governor, however he had some doubts about her gender.
“I’m gonna be a bit of a male chauvinist…we’re not ready for a woman president, we need someone with a backbone,” Kelly said.
Still, Kelly did end up voting for her because he said the party needs to move on from Trump.
Saturday’s primary comes after Trump has built a delegate lead thanks to victories in Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada. Haley has vowed to stay in the race no matter Saturday’s outcome and compete in all the Super Tuesday states.