Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley has asked for Secret Service protection for her 2024 campaign, according to reports.
The request for protection is due to an alleged rise in threats on the campaign trail.
Haley faces an uphill battle as the last remaining primary challenger to President Donald Trump.
Trump appears to have all but secured the Republican nomination for president, with Haley running as a very distant longshot.
The Wall Street Journal was the first to report Haley’s request for Secret Service protection.
The outlet cited an incident at a Haley campaign event where security intercepted a woman rushing on stage.
Haley’s home in South Carolina was also targeted in a “swatting” incident.
“Swatting” is a hoax that involves a person making a false report of an emergency to prompt a heavily armed police response.
However, the pranks are extremely dangerous and could result in the target or their family members being shot.
“We’ve had multiple issues,” Haley told The Wall Street Journal.
“It’s not going to stop me from doing what I need to do.”
In addition to enhanced personal protection, a Secret Service detail could serve to elevate Haley’s campaign in the eyes of voters.
The Secret Service typically protects “major” presidential candidates.
The Secretary of Homeland Security decides whether to provide the protection.
Guidelines define a “major” candidate as a formal or “de facto” nominee for president or vice president, or a candidate polling at 15% or more for 30 consecutive days in the RealClearPolitics average of national polls.
Haley does not meet those conditions, however.
On February 24, Haley will go head-to-head with Trump in her home state of South Carolina.
The state’s primary likely represents her last opportunity to stop Trump from securing the nomination after he trounced his challengers in Iowa and New Hampshire last month.
Faced with a daunting polling deficit, Haley has sharpened her rhetoric against Trump.
She has blasted her former boss as mentally and morally unfit and too burdened with legal baggage to lead.
Trump, in turn, has ripped Haley as a globalist “warmonger” and a “birdbrain.”
Her candidacy has been embraced by leftist Wall Street donors and liberals eager to stop Trump.
Last weekend, Haley was welcomed onto the set of Saturday Night Live, where she took swipes at Trump, a regular target on the left-wing sketch comedy show.
Independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has also requested Secret Service protection.
However, the Biden administration has denied it.
