Haley makes it official in bid for president, taking on Trump
Ex-S.C. governor so far the lone GOP challenger
Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor and United Nations ambassador, entered the race for president on Tuesday, a much-forcasted move likely to leave her as the lone major Republican challenger to former president Donald Trump for many weeks, if not months, as other potential 2024 rivals bide their time.
By announcing her campaign early, Haley, 51, who called for “generational change” in her party, seized an opportunity for a head start on fund-raising and to command a closer look from Republican primary voters, whose support she needs if she is to rise from low single digits in early polls of the GOP field.
If successful, she would become the first woman and first Asian American to lead the Republican ticket. She previously made history as the country’s first female Asian American governor and the first Indian American to serve in the Cabinet.
Haley made the announcement in a video that does not mention Trump’s name, but makes clear her intention to break with the Trump era. In addition to calling for a new generation to step up, she urged Republicans to rally around substantive issues and a candidate with appeal to mainstream America.
“Republicans have lost the popular vote in seven out of the last eight presidential elections,” she said. “That has to change.”
Haley’s campaign has drawn encouragement from many polls showing that in a hypothetical multicandidate field, Trump wins less than half of Republican voters. Her entry into the race underscores how the former president has failed to scare off rivals in his presidential campaign, announced in November after a disappointing midterm election for Republicans.
Her announcement reversed a statement in 2021 that she would not run if Trump were a candidate. She was a rare figure to leave the Trump administration while earning praise from Trump rather than a parting insult. In a statement, Trump said Haley had in the past called him “the best president in my lifetime,” but added, “I told her she should follow her heart and do what she wants to do.”
That the former president has so far not coined an insulting nickname or otherwise attacked Haley is a sign, perhaps, that he does not perceive her as a major threat.
One of Trump’s fund-raising groups, MAGA Inc., issued a harsher statement, saying Haley had left her post at the UN “to go rake in money on corporate boards, adding: “Now, she says she represents a ‘new generation.’ Nikki is just more of the same, a career politician whose only commitment is to herself.”
Since leaving the Trump administration in 2018, Haley has walked a fine line with the former president, praising his policies and accomplishments in office while offering criticism that appeals to Republican moderates. The day after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, she said his actions “will be judged harshly by history.”
But she opposed Trump’s impeachment for his actions surrounding the riot. “At some point, I mean, give the man a break,” she said on Fox News in late January 2021. In interviews last month, Haley swiped at the advanced age of both Trump, 76, and President Biden, 80. “I don’t think you need to be 80 years old to go be a leader in D.C.,” she told Fox News. To advance into the top tier of Republican presidential hopefuls, Haley’s campaign is banking on her skills as a retail campaigner in early nominating states. She is traveling to New Hampshire after a rally planned in South Carolina on Wednesday, for two town hallstyle events, and she plans to be in Iowa next week.
Other Republicans exploring presidential campaigns include South Carolina Senator Tim Scott; Florida Governor Ron DeSantis; former vice president Mike Pence; and Mike Pompeo, a former secretary of state.