Former South Carolina governor and ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley made a candidacy for the White House official on Tuesday, making her the first Republican to take on former president Donald Trump for the party’s nomination.
Haley, who worked for Trump, made the statement in a video uploaded to the internet. “it’s time for a new generation of leadership.”
“I’m Nikki Haley, and I’m running for president,” she says at the video’s close.
Haley, the first female governor of South Carolina and the first Indian-American to hold the office, was born there as the daughter of Indian immigrants in Bamberg. She would create history once more as the first woman and the first Asian-American to be the party’s nominee for president in 2024 if she gets the nomination.
On Wednesday, Haley is scheduled to address her supporters in Charleston, South Carolina, to announce her candidacy officially. T
he following week, she will visit New Hampshire and Iowa, the first states on the presidential primary calendar. Midway through March, Haley will revisit South Carolina for a conservative forum.
In her candidacy announcement, Haley bemoaned that Republicans had lost the popular vote in seven of the previous eight elections, saying that this pattern “needs to change.”
“The Washington establishment has failed us over and over and over again,” she said.
Haley initially stated to The Associated Press in April 2021 that she would not oppose Trump if he decided to launch a third presidential bid. Still, she later said in a Fox News interview that her plans for her political future may have changed due to the Biden administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan and the country’s economic difficulties.
“When looking at America’s future, I think it’s time for new generational change. I don’t think you need to be 80 years old to be a leader in D.C.,” Haley told Fox News in January. “I think we need a young generation to step up and really start fixing things.”
Trump is 76 years old, and President Biden is set to announce his reelection bid soon, is 80. Haley is 51 years old.
Taylor Budowich, the Trump-aligned MAGA Inc. super PAC leader, attacked Haley as “simply another career politician” even though Trump had wished Haley luck and claimed he had pushed her to “follow her heart.”
Before resigning to work in the Trump [administration], she was a Never Trump supporter, he claimed in a statement. “She later gave notice early so she could start making money on company boards.
She is now claiming to speak for a “new generation.” Indeed, it seems like another professional politician who has fulfilled her obligations.”
In early surveys for the 2024 GOP presidential primary, Haley has consistently finished third or fourth behind Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, another anticipated candidate.
Haley finished fourth with 5% of the vote in a Club for Growth Action survey of GOP voters earlier this month. However, GOP operatives and Republican officials with a base in South Carolina have said that Haley’s popularity and connections to the Palmetto State might boost her in a presidential bid.
“This is going to show to be a fight of tough foes,” Dave Wilson of the Palmetto Family Council, a well-known South Carolina conservative charity, told CBS News. “Nikki Haley has officially entered the campaign for president — and the only serious contender now is her former boss.”
“People in South Carolina have consistently underrated Nikki Haley throughout the years. I’m waiting for the next 12 months to show how well she can handle the national stage now.”
In a modest January poll of potential Republican voters in the state conducted by the South Carolina Policy Council, 47% opposed Trump’s nomination, while 37% agreed.
Haley adds a crucial voice to the contest, said West Virginia senator Shelley Moore Capito, a Republican, and now is the moment “to have the competition.”
Capito told CBS News that “anyone at this stage has a reasonable shot” and that “I think we need a diversity of perspectives and certainly more women nominees among Republicans, as we had some last time.” Capito also said that Haley is “wise to get in early.”
Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, who sought the Republican candidacy in 2016 and had Haley’s support, told CBS News that the former president would “strike all his opponents” if he ran for office with Trump on the ballot.
It’s not an easy thing to pull off or do, as I discovered during my campaign, Rubio added. “To run for president is challenging. It isn’t easy to run against Donald Trump. Particularly in the present era, he is a gifted communicator.”
Although Haley has “backbone and capability,” Republican Sen. Mitt Romney of Utah, the GOP’s presidential nominee in 2012, said he believes people will be “surprised to see how effectively” she performs.
The Confederate flag was removed from the statehouse grounds during Haley’s six-year term as governor of South Carolina after nine people were killed by a white supremacist in a racially motivated shooting at the Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston in 2015. This action garnered Haley national attention.
In 2016, she gave the Republican response to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union speech. She served two terms as governor before Trump chose her to be the country’s ambassador to the UN, a position she held from January 2017 to December 2018.
Haley established the Stand for America PAC after departing the Trump administration, and it participated in the 2022 midterm elections.
Additionally, she has visited Nevada, New Hampshire, and Iowa, three crucial states for the presidential primaries.
Trump and Haley are the only two Republicans who have formally entered the campaign for the party’s nomination. Still, more Republicans are anticipated to enter the contest, including former Vice President Mike Pence, New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu, and DeSantis.
Events are being held in early presidential primary states by several of Haley’s anticipated rivals. On the same day as Haley’s event, Pence will attend an education rally in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem will launch a series of speeches on policy in Washington, D.C. South Carolina Sen.
Tim Scott, who Haley appointed to the position in 2012, will speak about Black conservatism Thursday at a gathering in his home state of South Carolina.
Please share this with your friends if you find it interesting. Visit lighthousejournal.org for more celebrity updates and breaking news.
For almost 4 years, Jason Martin has been a freelance writer for newspapers, journals, blogs, books, and online material. He covers the most recent news as well as many other topics.