In bid for party unity, former Republican state rep swaps support from Haley to Trump
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Republicans, once divided over more than a dozen candidates in their caucus vying for the top of the party’s 2024 ticket, have unified in favor of former President Donald Trump. Among them is former Minnesota state Rep. Kelly Fenton.
Formerly a staunch supporter of Nikki Haley, Fenton was originally attending the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee as a Haley delegate. The former South Carolina governor and U.N. ambassador under Trump released her delegates when she withdrew from the race during the primaries.
While now firmly supporting Trump, the former Woodbury representative told MPR News host Cathy Wurzer she saw Haley as more broadly appealing to people, specifically women.
“I was on the ticket with Trump and I won, and I was on the ticket with Trump and I lost, and I just thought that people were looking for something different,” Fenton said Wednesday morning. “I followed Nikki Haley for years, I’ve liked a lot of what she stood for. And she was the candidate that made the most sense to me at the time.”
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To a mix of boos and cheers, Haley addressed the crowd in support of her once-fiercest opponent at the RNC Wednesday night.
“Donald Trump has my strong endorsement, period,” Haley said, stressing the importance of party unity. “You don’t have to agree with Trump 100 percent of the time to vote for him.”
Fenton agrees.
“Both Joe Biden and Trump are not perfect, but one candidate is much better than the other,” she said. “If you stand for law and order, if you want law and order, tighter security at the border, safety of the citizens, if you want to better economy, Trump is the person to support and I absolutely get behind it.”
Fenton served in the Minnesota House of Representatives as a Republican from 2015 to 2018, becoming assistant majority leader in her second session. After redistricting, she failed to secure a third term in 2022, losing to DFL Rep. Ethan Cha.
“Right now, there is a candidate in my mind that is much better than the other one. And that is Trump,” Fenton continued. “Did I initially support Trump? No, I pretty much followed Nikki Haley’s lead as she came out and supported him.”
Minnesota U.S. Congressman and Majority Whip Tom Emmer gave a primetime speech at the convention Wednesday night and said he’s “confident” Republicans “will make history this November when [they] turn Minnesota red for the first time in 50 years.”
Fenton believes it’s possible, saying the current wave feels more like 2016, “but even higher.” The 2024 RNC is her third convention, and she says the energy is unprecedented and nearly indescribable.
“There is unity that I’ve never seen before. And I think all of that points to a possibility that Trump will absolutely flip Minnesota,” Fenton said. She arrived a week early to serve on the convention rules committee, and she consistently heard that Minnesota is in play from the Trump team and pollsters.
Trump’s pick for a running mate is 39-year-old Ohio Sen. JD Vance, a former venture capitalist and Marine Corps veteran also known for his bestseller “Hillbilly Elegy,” who in the past called Trump a “moral disaster” and compared the former president to Adolf Hitler. The junior lawmaker reversed his opinions and beat out older and more experienced VP options on Monday.
Fenton congratulated Vance on social media platform X, praising his rags-to-riches story.
“But more than anything, I love that he is much younger. And I think what we're seeing — and even those younger than me have been saying — there’s the future of the party,” Fenton said, indicating Vance. “It feels that Trump is really looking … to make a path for the future … and it’s great to see that in politics right now.”