Nikki Haley poised to enter 2024 presidential race
Nikki Haley is set to announce she is seeking the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, reports suggest.
Haley is a former US ambassador to the UN and two-term governor of South Carolina.
Her campaign is poised to start on 15 February in Charleston, South Carolina and would become the second major Republican candidate for the presidency, after Donald Trump launched his bid in November.
She would be the third Indian-American to seek a presidential nomination.
As South Carolina governor, Ms Haley developed a reputation as a business-friendly leader who focused on attracting major companies to the state.
She gained prominence on the national stage for her response to the racially motivated mass shooting at a Church in 2015. She successfully pushed for the removal of the Confederate flag from the grounds of the state capitol in Colombia.
She endorsed Florida Senator Marco Rubio in the 2016 Republican presidential contest, but Trump still offered her a position in his cabinet as UN ambassador after he won the White House. She served there for two years and never had a public falling out with Trump.
She did, however, criticise the former president’s behaviour up to and during the 6 January 2021 attack on the US Capitol by the supporters. The day after the riot, she said in a speech that “his actions since election day will be judged harshly by history”.
Republican nomination
Last year she had said she would not run for president in 2024 if Donald Trump sought the nomination. But over the past few months, she appears to have distanced herself from that position.
“When you’re looking at a run for president, you look at two things,” she said in a Fox News interview last week. “You first look at does the current situation push for new leadership? The second question is, am I that person that could be that new leader?”
Ms Haley answered both questions with a yes and could use her youth as a contrast to both Trump, and if she were to win the nomination, Democrat Joe Biden.
Trump said Ms Haley had called him to inform him of her interest in running. He said he told her she should do it and he welcomed the competition.
He recently made a campaign appearance in Ms Haley’s home state, which is likely to become a key early battleground for the Republican nomination.
Most early polls show former president Donald Trump with a comfortable lead in the state whose primary he won on his way to the presidency in 2016 – an indication of the uphill battle Ms Haley will have.
