‘Biden’s too old,’ Nikki Haley says in new campaign ad

- ADVERTISEMENT -

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley has launched a new campaign ad calling President Biden “too old,” in one of the most direct attacks on the president’s age this election cycle.

“I’ll just say it: Biden’s too old,” Haley, 51, says in the ad. “And Congress is the most exclusive nursing home in America.”

During the GOP primary, Haley has consistently made references to Biden’s age – 81 – as well as the fact that many of Congress’s top leaders are over 70. When announcing her presidential campaign, Haley called for “mandatory mental competency tests for politicians over 75 years old.”

The new ad, however, makes no reference to former president Donald Trump, who is leading the GOP primary field by a wide margin, nor his age, 77.

According to Haley’s campaign, the ad will run statewide in Iowa and New Hampshire on broadcast, cable, and digital platforms.

The campaigns of both Biden and Trump as well as experts on aging have repeatedly stated that the two remain physically capable of being president even with demanding schedules. Both candidates have recently disclosed positive health reports from their physicians.

The Biden campaign did not respond to a request for comment on the new Haley ad.

The new ad comes as Haley, who served as South Carolina governor for six years, has seen a jump in the GOP primary polls. While she’s been running behind Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) for most of the past year, recently she’s emerged as the top Trump alternative in the eyes of some Republicans – a trend that is especially evident in New Hampshire. Still, she remains far behind Trump in the polls.

A new CBS News New Hampshire GOP primary poll released on Sunday found Haley polling at 29 percent in that state, 15 points behind Trump but 18 points ahead of DeSantis. Last week, Haley received the highly coveted endorsement of New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (R), who told an audience of supporters that Haley is the best alternative that the party has to Trump.

Sununu, whose state will host the first GOP primary on Jan. 23, appeared alongside Haley on ABC’s “This Week” on Sunday morning, where he continued extolling her. Haley, who served as U.N. ambassador during the Trump presidency, claimed that while she agreed “with a lot of Trump’s policies,” “75 percent of America that say they don’t want a Trump/Biden rematch.”

“I think for Republicans, they’re looking at the fact that, look, we’ve got to get this back on track,” she said during the ABC segment. “And they like the idea of a new generational leader.”

Trump, she argued, “was the right president at the right time.”

“But looking at the situation now, our country’s in disarray, the world is on fire, and chaos follows him,” she said. “And we can’t have a country in chaos for four more years or we won’t survive it.”

ABC’s Jon Karl asked Haley what she made of Trump’s promise that he will seek “retribution” against his political adversaries, which prompted a terse exchange.

“He’s running on retribution,” Karl told Haley. “He talks about annihilating his enemies and using the criminal justice system to do so. What do you what do you think of that?”

“You guys are exhausting,” Haley replied, referring to journalists and the media. “You’re exhausting in your obsession with him.”

Haley then claimed “normal people aren’t obsessed with Trump like you guys are,” she said. “That’s exactly why we need a new generational leader, because people don’t want to hear about every word a person says or every tweet.”