Washington — Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, announced Tuesday that she will make a bid for the White House.
Haley, a Republican who served under former President Donald Trump, made the announcement in a video posted online, in which she declared that “it’s time for a new generation of leadership.”
“I’m Nikki Haley, and I’m running for president,” she says at the close of the video.
The daughter of Indian immigrants, Haley was born in Bamberg, South Carolina, and would go on to become the state’s first female governor and the first Indian-American to lead the state. If she wins the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, she would make history again as the first woman and first Asian-American at the top of the GOP ticket.
With the launch of her campaign, Haley is the second Republican to jump into the presidential race, joining Trump, her former boss. She is set to deliver a speech to supporters announcing her run in Charleston, South Carolina, on Wednesday.
In her campaign announcement, Haley lamented that Republicans lost the popular vote in seven out of the last eight elections, a trend “that has to change.”
“The Washington establishment has failed us over and over and over again,” she said.
Haley initially told the Associated Press in April 2021 that she would not run against Trump if he decided to mount a third presidential campaign, but indicated in an interview with Fox News that her plans for her political future may have changed, citing the Biden administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan and economic woes.
“When you’re looking at the future of America, I think it’s time for new generational change. I don’t think you need to be 80 years old to go be a leader in D.C.,” Haley told Fox News in January. “I think we need a young generation to come in, step up, and really start fixing things.”
President Biden, who is expected to announce his reelection campaign soon, is 80 years old, and Trump is 76. Haley is 51.
During her six-year tenure as governor of South Carolina, Haley gained the national spotlight after she ordered the removal of the Confederate flag from statehouse grounds after nine people were killed by a white supremacist in a racially-motivated shooting at the Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston in 2015.
She delivered the Republican response to then-President Barack Obama’s State of the Union address in 2016.
Following her two terms in the governor’s mansion, she was selected by Trump as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, serving in the role from January 2017 to December 2018. After leaving the Trump administration, Haley launched the Stand for America PAC, which was active during the 2022 midterm elections.
She has also made trips to Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada, key states during the presidential primaries.
While Haley and Trump are the only two Republicans officially in the race for the party’s nomination, the field is expected to grow, with former Vice President Mike Pence, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu among the potential candidates.
