CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Nikki Haley, the previous South Carolina governor and United Nations ambassador, introduced her candidacy for president on Tuesday, changing into the primary main challenger to former President Donald Trump for the 2024 Republican nomination.
The announcement, delivered in a tweeted video, marks an about-face for the ex-Trump Cupboard official, who said two years ago that she wouldn’t problem her former boss for the White Home in 2024. However she changed her mind in current months, citing, amongst different issues, the nation’s financial troubles and the necessity for “generational change,” a nod to the 76-year-old Trump’s age.
“It’s best to know this about me. I do not put up with bullies. And whenever you chill, it hurts them extra in case you’re sporting heels,” Haley stated. “I am Nikki Haley, and I am operating for president.”
Haley, 51, is the primary in a protracted line of Republicans who’re anticipated to launch 2024 campaigns within the coming months. Amongst them are Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina.
President Joe Biden has stated he intends to hunt reelection in 2024, stalling any jostling for the Democratic nomination.
Haley has commonly boasted about her monitor file of defying political expectations, saying, “I’ve by no means misplaced an election, and I’m not going to begin now.”
If elected, Haley can be the nation’s first feminine president and the primary U.S. president of Indian descent.
The daughter of Indian immigrants, Haley grew up enduring racist taunts in a small South Carolina city and has lengthy referenced that impression on her private and political arc.
Within the three-and-a-half minute video, Haley referenced that previous, saying she grew up “not Black, not white — I used to be completely different.”
Regardless of that, Haley insisted that America just isn’t a racist nation: “Nothing may very well be farther from the reality.” Taking part in within the background of her video had been photos of media experiences associated to The New York Instances Journal’s Pulitzer Prize-winning “1619 Mission” — which centered the nation’s historical past round slavery.
Haley by no means mentions Trump by identify within the video, as an alternative saying “the Washington institution has failed us over and over and over.” Haley leans right into a name for “a brand new technology of management,” which has grow to be the chorus of her messaging main as much as the launch.
There seems to be openness amongst Republicans to new management, in keeping with a new poll from The Related Press-NORC Middle for Public Affairs Analysis. In an open-ended query asking Republicans to decide on who they need to lead their get together, a majority of Republicans did not select both Trump or DeSantis, thought of the previous president’s high rival. However in addition they did not have a transparent various in thoughts.
Eleven different politicians, together with Haley, are named by simply 1% of Republicans as their most well-liked chief.
In an announcement, Taylor Budowich, spokesman for Trump’s tremendous PAC, stated Haley was “simply one other profession politician.”
“She began out as a By no means Trumper earlier than resigning to serve within the Trump admin,” he stated. “She then resigned early to go rake in cash on company boards. Now, she’s telling us she represents a ‘new technology.’ Certain simply appears like extra of the identical, a profession politician whose solely fulfilled dedication is to herself.”
Earlier than getting into politics, Haley was an accountant. She defeated the longest-serving member of the South Carolina Home in 2004 in her first bid for public workplace. Three phrases later and with little statewide recognition, Haley mounted a long-shot marketing campaign for governor in opposition to a big area of skilled politicians.
She racked up quite a lot of high-profile endorsements, together with from the sitting South Carolina governor, Mark Sanford, and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, a tea get together darling.
Together with her 2010 victory, Haley grew to become South Carolina’s first feminine and minority governor — and the nation’s youngest at 38. She earned a talking slot on the 2012 Republican Nationwide Conference and gave the GOP response to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union in 2016.
The defining second of Haley’s time as governor got here after the 2015 murders of nine Black parishioners in a Charleston church by a self-avowed white supremacist who had been pictured holding Accomplice flags.
For years, Haley had resisted calls to take away the Accomplice flag from the Statehouse grounds, even casting a rival’s push for its elimination as a determined stunt. However after the bloodbath and with the assist of different main Republicans, Haley advocated for laws to take away the flag. It came down lower than a month after the murders.
Within the 2016 presidential major, Haley was an early supporter of Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, later shifting to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. She finally stated she would again the get together’s nominee.
Shortly after Trump’s victory, he tapped Haley to be his U.N. ambassador, a transfer that rewarded Henry McMaster, the lieutenant governor who was the nation’s first statewide elected official to again Trump’s 2016 marketing campaign. Haley’s departure cleared the best way for McMaster to ascend to the governorship he had sought, since shedding a bruising major to none aside from Haley seven years earlier.
Together with her Senate affirmation, Haley grew to become the primary Indian American in a presidential Cupboard.
Throughout her almost two-year tenure, Haley feuded at instances with different administration officers whereas bolstering her personal public persona.
Considered one of her most memorable moments as U.N. ambassador got here in 2018 after Nationwide Financial Council Director Larry Kudlow advised Haley had suffered “momentary confusion” when she stated Russian sanctions had been imminent.
“With all due respect, I don’t get confused,” she responded. The primary half of the quote grew to become the title of her 2019 memoir.
Her departure from the job later that 12 months fueled hypothesis that she would problem Trump in 2020 or change Pence on the ticket. She did neither.
As an alternative, Haley returned to South Carolina, the place she purchased a house on the rich enclave Kiawah Island, joined the board of plane producer Boeing Co., launched herself on the talking circuit and wrote two books, together with the memoir.
After the Jan. 6, 2021 riot, Haley initially forged doubts on Trump’s political future however stated she wouldn’t problem him in 2024. She later shifted course, citing inflation, crime, medicine and a “overseas coverage in disarray” amongst her causes for contemplating a White Home marketing campaign.
Throughout his South Carolina stop final month, Trump advised WIS-TV that Haley had referred to as to hunt his opinion on operating for president. Trump identified her earlier pledge to not run in opposition to him however stated he made no try and cease her.
“She stated she would by no means run in opposition to me as a result of I used to be the best president, however individuals change their opinions, and so they change what’s of their hearts,” Trump stated. “So I stated, ‘In case your coronary heart needs to do it, you need to go do it.’”
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Meg Kinnard might be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP