Breaking Down Nikki Haley's Presidential Run

Nikki Haley, a former South Carolina governor and Donald Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations, announced she was challenging the former president for their party’s presidential nomination, claiming the mantle of younger leadership.

“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 after Trump to jump into the race, hoping to carve out a lane as a fresh face in a party that has suffered losses in recent elections. But that lane is likely to be crowded.

Several Republicans are expected to challenge Trump, including Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, 44, and fellow South Carolinian, Senator Tim Scott, 57.

Haley is highlighting the contrast with President Joe Biden, 80, who is expected to seek a second term, and Trump, 76, who is 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.

But she faces an uphill battle to dethrone Trump without a large national profile and a history of waffling on her former boss. A Jan. 24 Emerson College poll showed Trump with 55% of the vote in a potentially crowded primary field, with DeSantis at 29%, former Vice President Mike Pence at 6% and Haley at just 3%.

A Monmouth University Poll released last week showed Trump and DeSantis as the clear preferences among GOP voters right now, with Haley and other potential candidates mentioned by only a handful of survey participants.

Haley has flip-flopped on the former president, who, though weakened, maintains a significant grip on the GOP. She opposed him in 2016 before joining his administration, and she criticized Trump for his role in the Jan. 6 insurrection before saying in 2021 that she wouldn’t 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.

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

The daughter of Indian immigrants, Haley 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.

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