Less than half-hour into the primary Republican presidential debate, the lads onstage had been bickering — simply as Nikki Haley predicted.

“I think this is exactly why Margaret Thatcher said, ‘If you want something said, ask a man,’” quipped Ms. Haley, the previous governor of South Carolina and former ambassador to the United Nations. “If you want something done, ask a woman.”

The response was the start of a standout efficiency for Ms. Haley, who already lower a definite determine: the lone girl within the Republican area, standing in a white and lightweight blue suit-style gown amongst a stretch of men in nearly identical red ties.

Her Thatcher line — a favourite on the stump and the inspiration for the title of one in every of her books — captured the steadiness she has sought to strike between testing her get together’s attitudes and never leaning too far into her gender. But Ms. Haley, who has struggled to achieve traction in main polls dominated by Donald J. Trump, didn’t all the time keep above the fray.

She took swings at her rivals and provided a general-election vision for her party that appeared to intrigue some voters and pundits who had been impressed along with her skills to talk authoritatively, skillfully break with the pack on some points and provides and take punches.

The exhibiting may inject some much-needed momentum into her marketing campaign. Ms. Haley spent the subsequent morning sitting by means of a blitz of interviews earlier than she was anticipated in Chicago for a fund-raiser. At the very least, her allies stated, the controversy gave a glimpse into why she shouldn’t be discounted.

“Nobody thought Nikki Haley could get elected to anything in South Carolina,” stated Katon Dawson, a Haley surrogate and the previous chairman of the South Carolina Republican Party. And but, he added, “she has never lost a race.”

Here are 4 areas the place Ms. Haley was in a position to land a blow and distinguish herself from the sector on Wednesday evening in Milwaukee.

“Do not make women feel like they have to decide on this issue.”

She went head-to-head with former Vice President Mike Pence on abortion, giving an impassioned protection of ladies and urging her rivals to cease “demonizing” the difficulty. As governor of South Carolina, she signed a 20-week ban on the process, however on Wednesday, simply as she has earlier than, she referred to as for “consensus” on the difficulty.

“Can’t we all agree that we should ban late-term abortions? Can’t we all agree that we should encourage adoptions? Can’t we all agree that doctors and nurses who don’t believe in abortion shouldn’t have to perform them?” she stated, earlier than persevering with: “Can’t we all agree that contraception should be available? And can’t we all agree that we are not going to put a woman in jail or give her the death penalty if she gets an abortion?”

Ms. Haley’s makes an attempt to guide her get together on a thorny challenge haven’t all the time resonated — partly as a result of, her critics say, she has dodged most questions on the main points of her positions. On the stage Wednesday, she broached acquainted private themes, saying she was “unapologetically pro-life” as a result of her husband was adopted and she or he had hassle conceiving her two youngsters.

But when Mr. Pence sought to ascertain himself because the staunchest opponent of abortion, telling Ms. Haley that “consensus is the opposite of leadership,” Ms. Haley fired again that he was being dishonest about what was politically doable in the case of Congress passing a federal ban on abortion.

“When you’re talking about a federal ban, be honest with the American people,” she stated, arguing that the 60-vote filibuster threshold within the Senate meant that no Democratic or Republican president would be capable of set abortion coverage.

The change underscored the deep and emotional divide that has emerged amongst Republicans because the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade final yr. Though members of the get together largely help that ruling, a fierce electoral backlash to extra stringent state-level restrictions has made abortion a politically risky issue for Republicans.

“This guy is a murderer, and you are choosing a murderer over a pro-American country.”

Some of Ms. Haley’s fiercest clashes had been with Vivek Ramaswamy, a biotech entrepreneur and political newcomer, over her help for Ukraine in its effort to combat Russia’s invasion, a problem that has starkly divided the sector and the get together extra broadly. She recommended that Mr. Ramaswamy wished to “hand Ukraine to Russia,” and that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia had killed Yevgeny V. Prigozhin, the chief of the Wagner mercenary group answerable for a short-lived mutiny.

“This guy is a murderer, and you are choosing a murderer over a pro-American country,” Ms. Haley stated to Mr. Ramaswamy, referring to Mr. Putin, whom she additionally referred to as “thug.” “You don’t do that to friends. What you do instead is you have the backs of your friends.”

Later, she took probably the most memorable photographs of the evening when she informed Mr. Ramaswamy: “You will make America less safe. You have no foreign policy experience and it shows.” This drew loud applause from the viewers.

“They all voted to raise the debt, and Donald Trump added $8 trillion to our debt.”

On the marketing campaign path, Ms. Haley usually tells crowds that it’s time to put an accountant like herself within the White House. On Wednesday, as her rivals blamed President Biden and Democrats for financial insurance policies that they stated had pushed up the price of meals and gasoline, Ms. Haley criticized each Republicans and Democrats for growing the nation’s spending and debt.

“The truth is that Biden didn’t do this to us,” she stated. “Our Republicans did this to us when they passed that $2.2 trillion Covid stimulus bill.”

Mr. Biden shared a clip of Ms. Haley wherein she stated her rivals — Mr. Trump, Mr. Pence, Mr. DeSantis and Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina — had all fueled the nationwide debt enhance. “What she said,” the president said on X, previously referred to as Twitter.

Economists largely agree that Mr. Biden’s $1.9 trillion pandemic rescue plan in 2021 contributed to the highest inflation price in a long time. But they unfold the blame to stimulus handed beneath Mr. Trump and financial stimulus by the Federal Reserve, together with disruptions to provide chains brought on by Covid-19.

The problems with debt and spending, together with requires better transparency in authorities, had been a part of Ms. Haley’s beautiful come-from-behind-victory in 2010 when she was elected governor. That yr, Ms. Haley, the daughter of Indian immigrants, rode the Tea Party wave to grow to be the primary girl and first particular person of colour to guide South Carolina — in addition to the youngest governor of any state on the time.

“We have to face the fact that Trump is the most disliked politician in America.”

Ms. Haley elicited some boos from the world viewers when she referred to as for “a new generational conservative leader,” mentioning “that-three quarters of Americans don’t want a rematch between Mr. Trump and Mr. Biden.”

“We have to face the fact that Trump is the most disliked politician in America,” she stated. “We can’t win an election that way.”

In an interview with the Fox News host Sean Hannity after the controversy, Ms. Haley appealed to Republican main voters to again a candidate apart from Mr. Trump, whom she solid as an uncertain guess in opposition to Mr. Biden.

She stated that she believed the felony indictments in opposition to Mr. Trump had been politically motivated, however that the circumstances may nonetheless take him off the marketing campaign path.

“I served with him, I was proud to serve with him, I agree with him on most issues and he’s my friend,” Ms. Haley stated of the previous president. “But the reality is we cannot afford Joe Biden.”