Nikki Haley fires back at MSNBC's Joy Reid: 'We've had enough' of dividing people on race

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley fired back at MSNBC's Joy Reid, claiming they live in "different" Americas after the far-left host doubted her chances of prevailing in the GOP primaries because of her skin color. 

Haley was asked about Reid's comments during "Fox & Friends" and said she remains confident she can prevail despite losing the Iowa caucuses and coming in third place behind both Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis. 

"Joy Reid lives in a different America than I do," Haley told Brian Kilmeade Tuesday. "I mean, yes, I'm a brown girl that grew up in a small rural town in South Carolina who became the first female minority governor in history, who became a U.N. ambassador and who is now running for president. If that's not the American dream, I don't know what is."

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"You can sit there and give me all the reasons why you think I can't do this. I will continue to defy everybody on why we can do this, and we will get it done," she continued. 

Reid accused Republicans of being an "anti-immigrant" party, and that's why she "can't picture" Haley becoming the GOP nominee in 2024. 

"The elephant in the room, she's still a brown lady, that's gotta try to win in a party that is deeply anti-immigrant, it's still a challenge. I don't see how she becomes the nominee of that party. With Donald Trump still around, I can't picture it happening," she said on Monday. 

"Maybe it could happen," she continued. 

Kilmeade asked Haley if the Republican Party is racist, as Reid suggested.

"No we're not," Haley shot back. "We're not a racist country. We've never been a racist country. 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."

"I know I faced racism when I was growing up, but I can tell you today is a lot better than it was then. 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. That's why I'm so passionate about doing this. I don't want my kids growing up where they're sitting there thinking that they're disadvantaged because of a color or gender. I want them to know that if they work hard, they can do and be anything they want to be in America."

Nikki Haley fires back at Joy Reid over her criticism of the Republican Party. ('Fox & Friends' screengrab'/Getty)

Former President Trump secured victory in the Iowa caucuses Monday night, bringing in more than 50% of the vote. Ron DeSantis came in a distant second place with 21.2% and Haley was in third place with 19.1%. 

Vivek Ramaswamy came in fourth place, securing 7.7% of the vote, before ultimately dropping out of the race and endorsing Trump. 

Despite the Iowa loss, Haley said her campaign remains focused on maximizing their performance in the New Hampshire primary next week. 

"This is the process. This is what I love… it's a marathon. It's not a sprint," she said. "But we couldn't be more excited about the energy we have on the ground here in New Hampshire. And… the sendoff that Iowa gave us… we're happy."

Bailee Hill is an associate editor with Fox News Digital. Story ideas can be sent to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.