A New Hampshire voter confronted Nikki Haley on Wednesday, pointing out her omission of slavery in response to his question about the cause of the Civil War.
Haley, the former governor of South Carolina, who played a role in removing the Confederate battle flag from the statehouse grounds, asserted that the war was primarily about government interference in people’s freedoms.
During an event in Berlin, part of a series in the Granite State, Haley engaged in the exchange, asking the voter for his perspective on the Civil War’s cause, to which he retorted, “I’m not running for president.”
“I think it always comes down to the role of government and what the rights of the people are,” Haley added. “I will always stand by the fact that I think government was intended to secure the rights and freedoms of the people. It was never meant to be all things to all people,” she added.
The voter criticized her for not mentioning slavery in her answer. “In the year 2023, it’s astonishing to me that you answer that question without mentioning the word slavery,” the voter said.
“What do you want me to say about slavery?” Haley asked.
“Next question,” Haley said as attendees applauded.
Democrats and President Joe Biden’s campaign swiftly seized on the incident on social media. Biden emphasized, “It was about slavery,” accompanied by a video of the exchange shared by one of his campaign accounts.
Haley, formerly the governor of South Carolina, a pivotal state during the Civil War, has navigated a complex stance toward the Confederacy. In a 2010 interview reported by CNN’s KFile, she defended states’ rights to secede, endorsed Confederate History Month, and supported the Confederate flag. She described the Civil War as a clash of values between tradition and change.
The tragic 2015 shooting at a historically Black church in Charleston prompted Haley, then governor, to advocate for removing the Confederate battle flag from the statehouse grounds, where it had been since its relocation from the Capitol dome in 2000.
