Former South Carolina Republican Governor Nikki Haley speaks during the Republican Jewish Coalition annual leadership meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada, November 19, 2022.
Wade Vandervort | AFP | Getty Images
Nikki Haley, former governor of South Carolina and United Nations ambassador, announced Tuesday that she is entering the 2024 presidential race, making her the first Republican to challenge her former boss and ex-President Donald Trump for the Republican nomination.
Haley, 51, digged into the age difference between President Joe Biden, 80, and his challenger Trump, who is 76. Although Biden has not officially announced his candidacy, he is expected to do so in the coming weeks.
“Republicans have lost the popular vote in seven of the last eight presidential elections. That has to change,” Haley said in a video posted to his Twitter account. She called for a new generation of leaders, saying Biden’s record was “appalling” and that the “establishment in Washington has failed us again and again.”
Announcing her run a day before her official campaign launch in Charleston, South Carolina, Haley called for fiscal responsibility and secure borders.
Haley has been gathering a team to explore a potential race for weeks.
She is entering the race behind Trump and other potential challengers in public polls.
A Morning Consult poll on Tuesday, for example, shows Trump supported by 47% of Republican primary voters, while just 3% of respondents said they would choose Haley. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who is widely expected to enter the race, has 31% of GOP support while former Trump Vice President Mike Pence, who has also hinted at a possible race, has 7% voices.
One of Trump’s fiercest Republican opponents in the U.S. House, former Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., is neck and neck with Haley with 3% of the vote. None of these potential challenges have officially announced a race.
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