Haley, 51, is the first in a long line of Republicans who are anticipated to run for president in 2024.
Former South Carolina governor and United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley declared her presidential candidature on Tuesday, becoming the first significant contender to former President Donald Trump for the Republican nomination in 2024.
The statement, made in a video tweet, is a 180-degree turn for the ex-Trump Cabinet member, who vowed two years ago that she would not run for President in 2024. But she changed her mind in recent months, noting the country’s economic woes and the need for “generational change,” a reference to Trump’s age of 76.
“You should be aware of this fact about myself. Bullies are not tolerated by me. “And kicking back hurts them even more if you’re wearing heels,” Haley explained. “Hello, my name is Nikki Haley, and I’m running for President.”
Nikki Haley, 51, is the first in a long line of Republicans who are likely to begin presidential runs in 2024 in the following months. Among them are Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, and South Carolina Senator Tim Scott.
President Joe Biden has announced his intention to run for re-election in 2024, thereby putting a stop to any Democratic primary race. “I’ve never lost an election, and I’m not going to start now,” Nikki Haley has frequently boasted about her track record of confounding political predictions.
If elected, Nikki Haley would be the first female president of the United States and the first president of Indian origin.
Haley, the daughter of Indian immigrants, grew up in a small South Carolina town facing racial slurs and has long acknowledged the influence on her personal and political development.
Nikki Haley mentioned her history in the three-and-a-half-minute film, claiming she grew up “not Black, nor white — I was strange.”
Despite this, Haley maintained that America is not a racist country, saying, “Nothing could be further from the truth.” Images of media reports relating to The New York Times Magazine’s Pulitzer Prize-winning “1619 Project,” which concentrated the country’s history on slavery, played in the backdrop of the film.
In the video, Haley never addresses Trump by name, instead stating, “the Washington elite has failed us over and over and over again.” She then leans into a call for “a new generation of leadership,” which has become a theme of her message building up to the launch.
She was an accountant when she ran for public office for the first time in 2004, defeating the longest-serving member of the South Carolina House. Three terms later, and with little state wide recognition, Haley launched a long-shot governor’s candidature against a huge field of veteran legislators.
She received a slew of high-profile endorsements, including those from South Carolina’s current governor, Mark Sanford, and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, a tea party favourite.
With her election in 2010, Haley became South Carolina’s first female and minority governor, as well as the country’s youngest at 38. She spoke at the Republican National Convention in 2012 and delivered the GOP rebuttal to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address in 2016.
The 2015 killings of nine Black parishioners in a Charleston church by a self-avowed white supremacist brandishing Confederate flags became the defining moment of Haley’s governorship.
For years,Nikki Haley has opposed requests to remove the Confederate flag from the Statehouse grounds, even dismissing a rival’s efforts as a desperate ploy. However, following the shooting, and with the backing of other prominent Republicans, Haley lobbied for legislation to remove the flag. It was removed less than a month after the killings.
In the 2016 presidential election, Haley initially supported Florida Senator Marco Rubio before switching to Texas Senator Ted Cruz. She eventually said that she will support the party’s nominee.
Shortly after his victory, Trump appointed Nikki Haley as his United Nations ambassador, rewarding Henry McMaster, the lieutenant governor who was the nation’s first state wide elected official to support Trump’s 2016 campaign. McMaster was able to climb to the governorship he had desired since losing a brutal primary to none other than Haley seven years before.
Nikki Haley became the first Indian American in a presidential Cabinet after her Senate confirmation. During her almost two-year tenure, Haley clashed with senior government officials at times while strengthening her own public image.
One of her most famous moments as UN ambassador occurred in 2018, when National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow indicated Haley had had “momentary disorientation” when she stated that Russian penalties were impending.
“With all due respect, I’m not confused,” she said. The first part of the sentence inspired the title of her memoir, which was published in 2019. Her resignation later that year prompted rumours that she will run against Trump in 2020 or replace Pence on the ticket. She didn’t do either.
Instead, Nikki Haley moved to South Carolina, where she purchased a home on the rich enclave of Kiawah Island, joined the board of aircraft maker Boeing Co., became a public speaker, and authored two books, including the memoir.
Following the January 6, 2021 insurgency, Haley questioned Trump’s political prospects but stated that she would not oppose him in 2024. She then changed her mind, citing inflation, crime, narcotics, and a “disarrayed foreign policy” as grounds for considering a White House run.
During a rally in South Carolina last month, Trump told WIS-TV that Nikki Haley had phoned to ask for his thoughts on running for president. Trump cited her prior commitment not to run against him, but said he made no move to prevent her from doing so.
“She claimed she would never run against me because I was the greatest president, but people change their minds and their hearts,” Trump remarked. “So I answered, if your heart desires it, do it.”