AP Photo/Phelan M. Ebenhack, File; AP Photo/Abbie Parr; AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite
- Chris Sununu, backing Nikki Haley's White House bid, dismissed Rand Paul's criticism of her.
- "I'm sorry, but nobody cares what Rand Paul thinks in this race," Sununu said in a Newsmax interview.
- Paul took to X to detail his beef with Haley's foreign policy stances.
New Hampshire GOP Gov. Chris Sununu on Friday blasted Rand Paul for launching a "Never Nikki" website to oppose former UN ambassador Nikki Haley's White House bid, arguing that "nobody cares" about the Kentucky senator's thoughts on the race.
During a Newsmax interview, Sununu, one of the most prominent backers of Haley's presidential candidacy, praised Haley as the "only candidate that's surging in the race" and said that the libertarian-leaning Paul should be more focused on his work in the US Senate.
When the interviewer asked Sununu what Paul's opposition would mean for Haley's campaign, the governor said there wouldn't be any impact.
"What does Rand Paul mean? Nothing," Sununu said. "I'm sorry, but nobody cares what Rand Paul thinks in this race. This race is in Iowa and New Hampshire; it's in South Carolina."
"Maybe when the US Senate actually starts doing something and actually starts delivering some results, they can stand on a soapbox and think that their words matter," the governor continued later in the interview. "But until then, sorry, Rand Paul. Nobody cares."
Sununu's response came after Paul attacked Haley for her foreign policy positions. The Kentuckian said the former ambassador is from the "Dick Cheney, John McCain wing of the party."
In a series of posts on X, Paul said that Haley "supports Biden and McConnell and the forever-war crowd on funding for the war in Ukraine" and argued that she "routinely praised the mission of the United Nations, the results they achieved, and the people who ran it."
Former President Donald Trump's "America First" philosophy has shunned interventionism in international conflicts and embraced economic protectionism, and some Republicans — including presidential rival and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — have sought to attack Haley as a globalist over her support of increased aid for Ukraine.
In assessing the 2024 presidential contenders, Paul on X said that he liked various positions taken by Trump, DeSantis, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, and independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr., but drew a red line at Haley's candidacy.
"As I look over the field, I don't think I yet have a first choice, but I do know one thing: count me in as #NeverNikki!" he wrote.
Paul, who was first elected to the Senate in 2010 and ran unsuccessfully for the presidency in 2016, is going after Haley's candidacy during one of the most critical stretches of the 2024 Republican primaries.
Trump remains the favorite in the GOP contest, but Haley's support has steadily grown in New Hampshire. An outright win by Haley in the state could disrupt Trump's march to the nomination and possibly set up the remaining primary contests as a two-person race between the ex-ambassador and the ex-president.