Nikki Haley To Rival Donald Trump In Bid For Republican Presidency Nomination

Nikki Haley has announced her intention to run for president in 2024.

The former South Carolina Governor unveiled her bid to win the Republican nomination for the White House in a video today and is expected to deliver further remarks at a launch event in Charleston.

Watch the video here:

The announcement pits Haley, 51, against former boss Trump, who has has already announced his intentions to run for a second term. He lost the 2020 election to Joe Biden and has since gone about solidifying his base ahead of a new campaign.

She previously served as his ambassador to the United Nations but has been building towards her own run in recent years.

“I’m Nikki Haley and I’m running for president,” she says in the video, first reported by Axios.

At the top of the video, Haley takes aim at her political rivals, flashing up images of Democrat Alexandra Ocasio-Cortez and others, as well as of The New York Times’ 1619 Project, as she says: “Some look at our past as evidence that America’s founding principles were bad. They say the promise of freedoms were just made up. Some think our ideas are not just wrong but racist and evil. Nothing could be further from the truth.”

She then claims to have “seen evil” and compares the U.S.’s human rights record with the likes of China and Iran.

Later she slams Biden’s presidential record as “abysmal” and claims “the Washington establishment has failed us over and over and over again,” adding: “It’s time for a new generation of leadership.”

Haley

Haley’s announcement video highlights her background as a native of South Carolina, a key early primary state, where she served as governor from 2011 to 2017. She was the first female governor of the state. Her parents were immigrants from India, and in her announcement video, Haley talked of the need to pass leadership to a new generation.

That in and of itself was a subtle swipe at Trump, 76.

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

She also talked of standing up to China and Russia. “You should know this about me. I don’t put up with bullies. And when you kick back, it hurts them more if you are wearing heels.”

Trump already has weighed in on Haley’s bid, posting a video to his Truth Social account in which she said that she would not run if the former president did. In a recent interview with Hugh Hewitt, Trump told the conservative talk host, “She called me and she asked me about it, and I told her she should follow her heart. You know, she said numerous times, I put it up, actually, that I would never run if our president runs. He was a great president, et cetera, et cetera. She said that numerous times. But she’s a very ambitious person. She just couldn’t stay in her seat. And I said you know what? Nikki, if you want to run, you go ahead and run.”

Haley may be the first of many challengers to Trump, with the notion that his support has waned since the midterms. A number of high profile Trump-endorsed candidates lost their races, while one of his potential rivals, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, won reelection in a landslide.