By MEG KINNARD (Associated Press)
CHARLESTON, S.C. (AP) — Nikki Haley, the previous South Carolina governor and United Nations ambassador, introduced her candidacy for president on Tuesday, turning into the primary main challenger to former President Donald Trump for the 2024 Republican nomination.
The announcement, delivered in a tweeted video, marks an about-face for the ex-Trump Cabinet official, who mentioned two years in the past that she wouldn’t problem her former boss for the White House in 2024. But she modified her thoughts in latest months, citing, amongst different issues, the nation’s financial troubles and the necessity for “generational change,” a nod to the 76-year-old Trump’s age.
“You should know this about me. I don’t put up with bullies. And when you kick back, it hurts them more if you’re wearing heels,” Haley mentioned. “I’m Nikki Haley, and I’m running for president.”
Haley, 51, is the primary in an extended line of Republicans who’re anticipated to launch 2024 campaigns within the coming months. Among them are Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina.
President Joe Biden has mentioned he intends to hunt reelection in 2024, stalling any jostling for the Democratic nomination.
Haley has often boasted about her monitor file of defying political expectations, saying, “I’ve never lost an election, and I’m not going to start now.”
If elected, Haley could be the nation’s first feminine president and the primary U.S. president of Indian descent.
The daughter of Indian immigrants, Haley grew up enduring racist taunts in a small South Carolina city and has lengthy referenced that affect on her private and political arc.
In the three-and-a-half minute video, Haley referenced that previous, saying she grew up “not Black, not white — I was different.”
Haley by no means mentions Trump by identify within the video, as an alternative saying “the Washington establishment has failed us over and over and over again,” Haley leans right into a name for “a new generation of leadership,” which has grow to be the chorus of her messaging main as much as the launch.
She was an accountant when she launched her first bid for public workplace, defeating the longest-serving member of the South Carolina House in 2004. Three phrases later and with little statewide recognition, Haley mounted a long-shot marketing campaign for governor in opposition to a big subject of skilled politicians.
She racked up quite a lot of high-profile endorsements, together with from the sitting South Carolina governor, Mark Sanford, and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, a tea get together darling.
With her 2010 victory, Haley turned South Carolina’s first feminine and minority governor — and the nation’s youngest at 38. She earned a talking slot on the 2012 Republican National Convention and gave the GOP response to President Barack Obama’s State of the Union in 2016.
The defining second of Haley’s time as governor got here after the 2015 murders of 9 Black parishioners in a Charleston church by a self-avowed white supremacist who had been pictured holding Confederate flags.
For years, Haley had resisted calls to take away the Confederate flag from the Statehouse grounds, even casting a rival’s push for its elimination as a determined stunt. But after the bloodbath and with the assist of different main Republicans, Haley advocated for laws to take away the flag. It got here down lower than a month after the murders.
In the 2016 presidential major, Haley was an early supporter of Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, later shifting to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. She in the end mentioned she would again the get together’s nominee.
Shortly after Trump’s victory, he tapped Haley to be his U.N. ambassador, a transfer that rewarded Henry McMaster, the lieutenant governor who was the nation’s first statewide elected official to again Trump’s 2016 marketing campaign. Haley’s departure cleared the way in which for McMaster to ascend to the governorship he had sought, since shedding a bruising major to none aside from Haley seven years earlier.
With her Senate affirmation, Haley turned the primary Indian American in a presidential Cabinet.
During her practically two-year tenure, Haley feuded at occasions with different administration officers whereas bolstering her personal public persona.
One of her most memorable moments as U.N. ambassador got here in 2018 after National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow steered Haley had suffered “momentary confusion” when she mentioned Russian sanctions have been imminent.
“With all due respect, I don’t get confused,” she responded. The first half of the quote turned the title of her 2019 memoir.
Her departure from the job later that yr fueled hypothesis that she would problem Trump in 2020 or exchange Pence on the ticket. She did neither.
Instead, Haley returned to South Carolina, the place she purchased a house on the rich enclave Kiawah Island, joined the board of plane producer Boeing Co., launched herself on the talking circuit and wrote two books, together with the memoir.
After the Jan. 6, 2021 revolt, Haley initially forged doubts on Trump’s political future however mentioned she wouldn’t problem him in 2024. She later shifted course, citing inflation, crime, medication and a “foreign policy in disarray” amongst her causes for contemplating a White House marketing campaign.
During his South Carolina cease final month, Trump instructed WIS-TV that Haley had referred to as to hunt his opinion on operating for president. Trump identified her earlier pledge to not run in opposition to him however mentioned he made no makes an attempt to cease her.
“She said she would never run against me because I was the greatest president, but people change their opinions, and they change what’s in their hearts,” Trump mentioned. “So I said, if your heart wants to do it, you have to go do it.”
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Meg Kinnard might be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP
Source: www.bostonherald.com”