Day 2: Nikki Haley Town Hall and Lexington County Democratic Party (02/18/2024)

Sunday morning we had an easy start to the day with some extra time to get ready and hang out before we headed to the heart of Columbia for a taping of the Fox News Town Hall with Nikki Haley, hosted by John Roberts. 

We arrived pretty early to make sure we got all our seats, which also resulted in us standing in the frigid air for about an hour. Though I was definitely dressed to be inside, not outside, we still had a great time. Many of us used the time for a chance to talk with each other about our experiences the day before and to get some pictures for our blogs! Once inside we still had a good bit of waiting to do -- that's show biz! It was very interesting to see how a major news organization holds these types of events and all the moving parts behind the scenes. The press had a section in the back to film, photograph, and report on the event including Meg Kinnard, a reporter from the Associated Press, who (spoiler!) would be coming to speak with us the next morning! The audience section was a lot smaller than I was expecting, I'd say roughly 100 people came out including our class. Right before we started rolling the director (I think? Also could've been a producer or PA) came out to give us instructions about applause and noise levels during the taping. Then we started! John Roberts and Nikki Haley came out and said hello, then got right to the questions. A few select people from the audience had the opportunity to ask Haley questions on a variety of topics. She gave some very well detailed answers and was very engaged with each of the speakers. 

Following the town hall we headed to grab lunch and then we were off to the Lexington County Democratic Party office. There we learned about the hierarchy within the party in each county and how people get to those positions. And because this is an internship, not just a field trip (though it may sound that way for the first 24 hours!), they gave us a list of calls they've been needing volunteers to make that we took with us. After we had dinner back at the hotel we started our calls are between roguhly 17 of us calling at the same time, we made it through the list fairly quickly. Then it was off to bed before an early morning!

My aforementioned outfit that was definitely meant to be inside! It was 42* that day! (Don't worry I had a coat too)

John Roberts and Nikki Haley on stage at the Fox News town hall.

Nikki Haley's campaign tour bus

The Lexington County DP office! We loved seeing all their past campaign posters and merch.