Huckabee: Confederate flag is no 2016 issue

Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee says the Confederate flag flying at the South Carolina state capitol is “not an issue for a person running for president.”

Flying the Confederate flag doesn’t make South Carolina a racist state, the former Arkansas governor said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”


“This is a state that largely white people elected a female governor of Indian descent and the first-ever African-American United States senator from the South,” he said. “They have more diversity in the people they have elected to statewide office than New York, Connecticut or Massachusetts.”

Huckabee’s comments came after former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney called for removing the flag on Twitter on Saturday, tweeting that for many, “it is a symbol of racial hatred.” Another GOP presidential contender, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, also suggested removing the flag. But another 2016 GOP rival, former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, refused to say on Sunday whether the flag should come down.

Huckabee said it wasn’t a question that presidential candidates need to answer. “Everyone’s being baited with this question as if somehow that has anything to do whatsoever with running for president,” he said.

“Are you comfortable displaying the Confederate battle flag in public?” host Chuck Todd pressed Huckabee.

“I don’t personally display it anywhere, so it’s not an issue for me,” Huckabee replied. “That’s an issue for the people of South Carolina. Do you display it? I doubt it.”