Nikki Haley Says She Won't Debate Ahead of New Hampshire. Ron DeSantis Is Calling Her Out.

In the wake of a big win for Donald Trump in Iowa Monday night, the second and third place candidates are talking about another debate.

A one-on-one debate between Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley ahead of the Iowa caucuses did little to move the needle for Haley. While late polling in Iowa suggested Haley had moved into second place, the caucus showed that DeSantis still had a larger hold on the non-Trump base than she does - he walked away with nearly 22 percent of the vote on Monday night, much higher than the polls had him at going into Monday.

But in the wake of Monday night's results, both campaigns are seeking a way to overcome the other. Haley's campaign, perhaps sensing that last week's debate did more harm than good, has decided that she won't participate in a debate that doesn't include Trump ahead of New Hampshire.

“We’ve had five great debates in this campaign. Unfortunately, Donald Trump has ducked all of them,” Haley said in a statement. “He has nowhere left to hide. The next debate I do will either be with Donald Trump or with Joe Biden. I look forward to it.”
The upcoming debates are slated to take place before the New Hampshire primary on Jan. 23. ABC News partnered with WMUR-TV to host a debate on Thursday and CNN announced it would host a debate on Sunday.
ABC News and CNN did not respond to a request for comment.
Haley’s challenge toward Trump comes after the former U.N. ambassador finished in third place in the Iowa caucuses on Monday night. Trump was the far favorite, with Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in second place.

However, DeSantis is already calling Haley out on ducking these debates, saying she's "afraid" and is "ducking New Hampshire voters."

Nikki Haley is afraid to debate because she doesn’t want to answer the tough questions such as how she got rich off Boeing after giving them millions in taxpayer handouts as governor of South Carolina.

The reality is that she is not running for the nomination, she’s running to…
— Ron DeSantis (@RonDeSantis) January 16, 2024

"Nikki Haley is afraid to debate because she doesn’t want to answer the tough questions such as how she got rich off Boeing after giving them millions in taxpayer handouts as governor of South Carolina," DeSantis said in a statement posted to Twitter/X on Tuesday morning. "The reality is that she is not running for the nomination, she’s running to be Trump’s VP."

"I won’t snub New Hampshire voters like both Nikki Haley and Donald Trump, and plan to honor my commitments," he added. "I look forward to debating two empty podiums in the Granite State this week."

At a campaign event after Monday night's caucuses were over, Haley focused her campaign rhetoric on Trump and Joe Biden.

"[B]oth lack a vision for our country's future because both are consumed by the past, by investigations, by vendettas, by grievances," she told her supporters in a speech.

She also said, “I can safely say tonight Iowa made this Republican primary a two-person race."

The New Hampshire primary is scheduled for Tuesday, January 23, 2024. Current polling shows the state, which is a more moderate state for Republicans, favors Haley over DeSantis - but Trump still holds a commanding lead over Haley.

As of Tuesday morning, the RealClearPolitics average in New Hampshire has Trump at 43.5 percent, Haley at 29.3 percent, and DeSantis at 6.5 percent.