Republican presidential candidate former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley speaks during a campaign event at Mickey’s Irish Pub on January 09, 2024 in Waukee, Iowa.

AKENY, Iowa — The day after she was handed an opening with Chris Christie’s voters in New Hampshire, Nikki Haley treaded carefully in snowy Iowa.

She didn’t take questions from voters at her event in Ankeny, shortened her stump speech, had stricter rules for the press who covered her there and brushed off a viral hot mic moment where Christie seemed to say she’d get “smoked” by Donald Trump right before dropping out of the race.

“I do wish Chris well. It’s personal to get in a race, it’s personal to get out of a race,” Haley told Fox News, noting that she had not asked Christie for his endorsement. “I’m not like the fellas. Politics is not personal to me.”

But behind the scenes, Haley’s campaign was already hustling to earn the support of Christie’s allies in New Hampshire. A member of the Christie campaign steering committee there has already fielded calls from the campaigns of both Haley and Ron DeSantis, he told The Messenger.

Christie may have kicked her on his way out the door, but the former New Jersey governor handed Haley a political gift on Wednesday when he ended his presidential campaign. The pair had been splitting New Hampshire’s independent voters and Democrats who plan to cross over and vote in the GOP primary. With Christie gone, many of those votes are likely to go to Haley.

“His leaving increases Haley’s chances of winning,” University of New Hampshire pollster Andrew Smith said.

Nearly two-thirds of Christie’s supporters would move to Haley if he left the race, primary polls showed before he dropped out. That boost that could put Haley within striking distance of Trump in the first-in-the-nation primary state, especially if she can generate momentum with a strong performance in the Iowa caucuses on Monday.

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“I expect this consolidation to help Nikki in New Hampshire. She’s already surging and within digits of Trump,” said Kimberly Rice, Haley’s campaign co-chair in New Hampshire. “Nikki will work hard to earn every vote just like she’s been doing all along.”

That work started this week with phone calls to some of Christie’s allies like J.P. Marzullo, a former New Hampshire state lawmaker. Marzullo had been on Christie’s New Hampshire steering committee and received phone calls from the Haley and DeSantis campaigns after Christie left the race. Haley’s campaign confirmed it has reached out to Christie endorsers.

Marzullo said he’s disappointed to see Christie leave the primary. He has not decided who to support but definitely will not vote for Trump.

“I really don't think anyone who has made that commitment to Chris Christie is going to go back to Trump. I think that's over,” Marzullo said.

New Hampshire businessman Norm Olsen, another member of Christie's steering committee, has already made up his mind.

"If Governor Christie is not in the race, then I'll be voting for Nikki Haley," Olsen said. "I'm enthusiastically behind Nikki Haley because she has a chance to beat him here."

Although she’s trying to broaden her coalition to include independents and Democrats, Haley is still courting Republican voters, too. She walked a tightrope during the fifth GOP debate in Iowa Wednesday night and on the campaign trail, being careful not to alienate GOP voters who like Trump nor the anti-Trump contingent.

Haley was much more comfortable slamming DeSantis during that debate in Des Moines, who she is tied with for second place in Iowa and has passed in New Hampshire, according to the latest polls.

“Voters in New Hampshire are people who are looking for somebody who's going to take the party and the country in a different direction than Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis. I think that Nikki Haley is the only candidate left in the race for them to be able to fulfill that mission,” Iowa state Rep. Austin Harris, a Haley campaign surrogate, told The Messenger after the debate.

Haley’s debate performance convinced Dee McCracken, a registered nurse from Des Moines who decided to caucus for Haley after watching the Wednesday night debate. McCracken had considered caucusing for DeSantis, but feels Haley has better chance of uniting people and saw DeSantis as a little too egotistical.

Dale Blodgett, a Polk City resident who voted for Trump in 2016, said he is voting for Haley because she has the “best chance of winning.” After watching Trump’s first term, Blodgett was “done with him forever” and did not cast a ballot for the former president in 2020. Blodgett also had some advice for Christie.

“He should have kept his mouth shut. It's just sour grapes on his part,” Blodgett said in Ankeny after Haley finished her stump speech.

And as the most prominent Trump alternative left in the race, Haley may also become a landing place for anti-Trump voters who aren’t enthusiastic about her campaign but feel like she is their only option.

"What else am I gonna do? Where else am I gonna go? I don't feel like she's earned my vote, and she's gonna get it anyway because because I have no other option,” said Fergus Cullen, the former chairman of the state Republican Party. Cullen had been leaning toward voting for Christie — especially after Haley said she’d pardon Trump if he were found guilty of a crime.

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Haley Sticks to the Script in Iowa Home Stretch, but Courts Christie Allies Behind the Scenes