Should Kamala Harris nominate Nikki Haley to her cabinet?

Bill Scher of the Washington Monthly thinks Kamala Harris should appoint a Republican to her cabinet, and Harris agrees. Names like Mitt Romney, Liz Cheney, and Adam Kinzinger are already being tossed around on X. However, there is only one Republican who can secure two major voting blocks and has a large national grassroots organization.

Let me tell you why Harris should offer to appoint Nikki Haley and why Haley should decline.

Haley is the most “normie” Republican out there. The move would secure Harris the Never Trump vote and lock down the women’s vote. It would be an olive branch to moderate Republicans left out of Trump’s new populist party.

Appointing Haley as Secretary of State would be the most effective move. It would ensure that decisions about foreign policy are made with the entire country in mind, not just the ruling party. During this time of global tensions, it would ease the minds of anxious Americans disappointed with the current Biden-Harris administration’s policies. It would signal to the world that America is United in dealing with foreign enemies like China, Russia, and North Korea.

Haley, for her part, should decline. (And no, it’s not just because Haley believes she has a political future in the GOP and that working for Harris would derail that.)

Power in the American Republic is off balance due to issues with representation, incentives, and executive power. Average Americans are unrepresented, the incentives of power lead the wrong people to office, and the executive branch has far too much power. Haley should focus on the remedy instead of taking the easy pathway to power.

If Haley wants to be President someday, and if she wants to get anything productive done, she should focus on Congress. Seventy-six percent of Americans disapprove of Congress. Congress is responsible for safeguarding our sovereignty, writing laws, managing the purse, and executive oversight. However, our border is overrun, citizens are over-regulated, the country is drowning in debt, and the executive branch has far too much power.

Haley can help balance our republic by empowering Congress. Currently, there are 21 toss-up congressional districts: 13 districts that lean Democrat and 8 that lean Republican. That’s 42 swingable districts for a coalition with the right message.

That message should be Congressional Reform.

We see great American thinkers pointing the finger at Congress for our dysfunction everywhere we turn, from Neil Gorsuch to Yuval Levin. In his new book, American Covenant: How the Constitution Unified Our Nation―and Could Again, Levin writes, “When the system works well, it is usually because Congress is more or less doing its job. When the system is dysfunctional, it is often because Congress is dysfunctional–– as it plainly has been during our time.”

The people and the scholars agree that Congress is the problem. To remedy that problem, Congressional Reform is needed. To bring reform to the forefront of American politics, it will take a politician who dares to stand against the current tide of partisanship and who seeks to unite, not by creating a group that agrees more but, as Levin puts it, building unity by disagreeing better.

Why Nikki Haley?

While campaigning for President, Haley spoke with clarity and a southern folksy charm. She was funny when joking about Biden’s unfitness for office and serious when talking about policy. She pointed out how Trump, Biden, and Congress have continued to saddle future generations with massive debt.

Speaking at a rally in Virginia, Haley pointed out that Congress has only passed a budget on time four times in the past forty years. If Haley is serious about holding Congress accountable for its ineffectiveness and fiscal irresponsibility, here is an opportunity.

When political power is isolated into two large groups, it creates an opportunity for a small group built within the two large groups to shift power between them. The large groups then depend on the small group to get anything done and are forced to make concessions. And it’s the small group that typically drives the conversation. We have seen this recently with The Squad and Tea Party in Congress.

Haley should use her time and resources to build a reform coalition welcoming Republicans and Democrats. There is a multiplicity of reform groups already in existence. Many would be ready to work with politicians who take the issue seriously. Haley could bring together people from the Forward Party, Convention of the States, Never-Trumpers, and former Tea Party members–– uniting behind the message of congressional reform and sharing resources with candidates in toss-up districts to win office.

Lifting 15-20 candidates to victory will create a new faction inside Congress focused on reform and thankful to Haley for getting them into office. While in battleground districts leading the conversation about Congressional Reform, Haley would also share with voters what a future Nikki Haley administration would look like on foreign and domestic policy. The Haley influence in Congress could provide a healthy check on executive power, regardless of whether Trump or Harris wins in November. Facetime with voters and volunteers in the key districts will help build her run for 2028.

The American Republic was designed to balance power in a large, diverse nation. While Congress is the preeminent branch of the government, the President has often taken a large role in balancing power by leading or facilitating the political conversation. Washington helped balance power during the founding between the federal and state governments; during the Civil War, Lincoln helped balance power between moderate and radical Republicans, peace and war Democrats; Teddy Roosevelt helped balance power between the federal government and the Trusts; and FDR helped balance power between the free world and the tyrants.  

Nikki Haley could join them by changing the conversation about who to vote against into a conversation about what to vote for—helping balance the republic and ushering in a new era of politics. She has the charisma and charm to get the job done; now, she needs the right message. The people want to vote for Congressional Reform. Nikki Haley could give them that opportunity.