Republican presidential hopeful Nikki Haley repeated her belief that “America was never a racist country” in her final plea to New Hampshire voters ahead of the state’s GOP primary on Tuesday.

Haley defended the controversial comment she made earlier this week during Thursday night’s town hall at New England College with CNN anchor Jake Tapper, after the scheduled debate between Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was called off.

Tapper pressed Haley on the comment, pointing out that slavery was institutionalized in the constitution and the White House was built on slave labor, but Haley stood her ground, saying she did not believe that the founding fathers established the country on racist principles.

The former South Carolina governor, who was born in the southern state to Indian parents, described her experience growing up as a “brown girl” from “a small rural town” who experienced “plenty of racism.” However, she said her parents “never said we lived in a racist country and I’m so glad they didn’t.”

“For every brown and black child out there, you tell them they live or were born in a racist country, you’re immediately telling them they don’t have a chance,” Haley continued. “My parents always said you’ll face challenges and yes there will be people who are racist — but that doesn’t define what you can do in this country.”

Haley claimed that “we have too many people with this national self-loathing” and it is “killing our country.”

“We have got to go back to loving America. We are blessed because that little brown girl in that small rural town grew up to be the first female minority governor in this country … and is now running for president of the United States,” she said.

Tapper pushed back again on the country’s founding and its institutions being tied up in racism, but Haley responded that “the intent was to do the right thing.”

“I don’t think the [founding fathers’] intent was ever that we were going to be a racist country. The intent was that everyone was going to be created equal,” she said.

DeSantis, when asked to respond to Haley’s comments at a CNN tall hall on Tuesday, said he thinks the US is “not a racist country” now, but has “had challenges with how race was viewed.”

Polls released this week show former president and front-running candidate Donald Trump holding a double-digit lead over Haley in the Granite State — 52% to 38%, following Trump’s landslide caucus victory in Iowa last week. DeSantis is polling behind them in the single digits.