Nikki Haley launches 2024 Republican presidential bid

Nikki Haley, a former South Carolina Governor and Donald Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations, announced Tuesday that she’s running for president, casting herself as the Republican leader best positioned to usher in a fresh chapter for the GOP.

“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 said in a video Tuesday announcing her run.

Haley, 51, is the first of several Republicans expected to challenge Trump for the nomination, including Florida Governor Ron Desantis, after the former president announced he was running again nearly three months ago.

The former South Carolina governor said in 2021 that she would not run in 2024 if Trump did. But she laid the groundwork for a presidential run last year, including actively campaigning for GOP candidates across the US, and said the disappointing Republican midterm performance altered the landscape.

Haley has said the moment calls for new leadership with the 80-year-old President Joe Biden expected to seek a second term and the 76-year-old Trump trying to return to the White House after losing a reelection bid in 2020 that was capped by his supporters waging a deadly riot on the US Capitol to overturn his defeat.

“Republicans have lost the popular vote in seven out of the last eight presidential elections. That has to change,” Haley said in the video.

Haley, the daughter of Indian immigrants, was the youngest and first minority female governor in the country when she was elected in South Carolina in 2010. She regularly touts the state’s unemployment rate reaching a 15-year low during her tenure with aggressive economic development.