WASHINGTON: Former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley said on Tuesday that she will seek the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, putting her at odds with one-time boss Donald Trump, the ex-president also seeking to win back the White House.
“I’m Nikki Haley and I’m running for president,” Haley said in a video that her team sent out by email.
Haley, a former South Carolina governor who served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under Trump, will lay out her campaign plans in a speech in Charleston, South Carolina, on Wednesday.
She became Trump’s first direct challenger in a Republican field expected to grow in coming weeks and months. Her announcement was a sign the Republican nomination race is picking up steam.
Other high-profile Republicans looking at a 2024 run include Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence, U.S. Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu and former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, among others.
“It’s time for a new generation of leadership – to rediscover fiscal responsibility, secure our border, and strengthen our country, our pride and our purpose,” Haley, 51, said in her video.
She also harked back to her foreign policy experience with a folksy flair.
Who is Nikki Haley?
The daughter of two Indian immigrants who ran successful clothing store in a rural part of the state, Haley has gained a reputation in the Republican Party as a solid conservative who has the ability to address issues of gender and race in a more credible fashion than many of her peers.
Haley has pitched herself as a stalwart defender of American interests abroad, having served as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under Trump from 2017 to 2018. During that time, the United States pulled out of the Iran nuclear deal, which was signed under Democratic President Barack Obama and was highly unpopular among Republicans.
Ms Haley, born January 20, 1972, was the 116th and first female Governor of South Carolina from 2011 to 2017. She was appointed by President Donald Trump as the 29th United States Ambassador to the United Nations and served from January 2017 through December 2018.
Haley was born in Bamberg, South Carolina and earned an accounting degree from Clemson University. She joined her family’s clothing business, before serving as treasurer and president of the National Association of Women Business Owners. First elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives in 2004, she served three terms. In 2010, during her third term, she was elected governor of South Carolina, and she won re-election in 2014. Haley was the first female governor of South Carolina, the youngest governor in the country and the second governor of Indian descent (after fellow Republican Bobby Jindal of Louisiana). She was the first female governor of Asian American heritage. In 2017, Haley became the first Indian American member of a presidential cabinet.
