During an interview on Tuesday, Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley said that the United States has never been a “racist” country.
“No. We’re not a racist country… We’ve never been a racist country,” Haley said during her appearance on “Fox & Friends” when asked if she would have issues being elected as a woman of color. “Our goal is to make sure that today is better than yesterday. Are we perfect? No. But our goal is to always make sure we try and be more perfect every day that we can.”
Haley, who finished third at the Iowa Caucus on Monday, drew from her experience as “a brown girl that grew up in a small rural town in South Carolina” when answering the question.
Despite her proclamation, Haley has also said she experienced racism in the past. She tries to balance the two by saying she doesn’t want children to be raised thinking they have a disadvantage because of their race.
“I faced racism when I was growing up. But I can tell you, today is a lot better than it was then,” Haley said. “Our goal is to lift up everybody. Not go and divide people on race or gender or party or anything else. We’ve had enough of that in America.”
Haley has a major battle coming up in New Hampshire, where the next caucus will be held. Currently, she sits in second place in the state’s polls, trailing former President Donald Trump by a far lesser margin than she did in Iowa.
The former South Carolina governor is also being seen as the most moderate Republican candidate, though Trump remains the top choice for a majority of the party.