Nikki Haley announces presidential campaign, challenges Donald Trump – Chicago Tribune

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CHARLESTON, SC — Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina and ambassador to the United Nations, announced her candidacy for the presidency on Tuesday, becoming the first major challenger to former President Donald Trump for the 2024 Republican nomination.

The announcement, delivered in a tweeted video, marks an about-face for the former Trump Cabinet official, who said two years ago that he would not challenge his former boss for the White House in 2024. But that has changed. he thought recently. month, citing, among other things, the country’s economic problems and the need for “generational change,” a nod to the age of the 76-year-old Trump.

“You should know this about me. I don’t tolerate bullies. And when you kick back, it hurts them more if you’re in heels,” said Haley. “I’m Nikki Haley, and I’m running for president.”

Haley, 51, is the first in a long line of Republicans expected to launch 2024 campaigns in the coming months. Among them is 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 said he intends to seek re-election in 2024, preempting any bid for the Democratic nomination.

Haley regularly boasts of her track record of defying political expectations, saying, “I’ve never lost an election, and I’m not going to start now.”

If elected, Haley would be the country’s first female president and the first US president of Indian descent.

The daughter of Indian immigrants, Haley grew up enduring racist taunts in a small South Carolina town and has long cited that impact on her personal and political arc.

In the three-and-a-half-minute video, Haley addresses the past, saying she grew up “not Black, not white — I was different.”

Despite this, Haley insists that America is not a racist country: “Nothing could be further from the truth.” Playing in the background of his video are images of media reports related to The New York Times Magazine’s Pulitzer Prize-winning “1619 Project” — centered on the nation’s history around slavery.

Haley never mentioned Trump by name in the video, instead saying “the Washington establishment has failed us time and time again.” Haley leaned on a call for “a new generation of leadership,” which has been a refrain in her messaging leading up to the launch.

There appears to be an openness among Republicans to new leadership, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. In an open-ended question asking Republicans to choose who they want to lead their party, most Republicans chose neither Trump nor DeSantis, who is considered the former president’s top rival. But they also don’t have a clear alternative in mind.

Eleven other politicians, including Haley, were named by just 1% of Republicans as their preferred leader.

In a statement, Taylor Budowich, a spokeswoman for Trump’s super PAC, said Haley is “just another career politician.”

“He started out as a Never Trumper before resigning to serve in the Trump admin,” he said. “Then he resigned early to make money on corporate boards. Now, he tells us he represents a ‘new generation.’ Certainly more of the same, a career politician whose only fulfilled promise is to himself.”

Before entering politics, Haley was an accountant. He defeated the longest-serving member of the South Carolina House in 2004 in his first bid for public office. After three terms and with little statewide recognition, Haley launched a long-running campaign for governor against a large field of seasoned politicians.

He has earned several high-profile endorsements, including from South Carolina’s sitting governor, Mark Sanford, and former Gov. of Alaska Sarah Palin, a tea party darling.

With her 2010 victory, Haley became South Carolina’s first female and minority governor — and the nation’s youngest at age 38. She earned a speaking slot at the 2012 Republican National Convention and delivered the GOP’s State of the Union response President Barack Obama in 2016.

The defining moment of Haley’s time as governor came after the 2015 killing of nine Black parishioners at a Charleston church by a self-avowed white supremacist pictured holding Confederate flags.

For years, Haley has resisted calls to remove the Confederate flag from the Statehouse grounds, even as a rival pushed for its removal as a desperate stunt. But after the massacre and with the support of other top Republicans, Haley sponsored legislation to remove the flag. It came down less than a month after the murders.

In the 2016 presidential primary, Haley was an early supporter of Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, later moved to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz. In the end he said he would support the party’s nominee.

Shortly after Trump’s victory, he tapped Haley to be his UN ambassador, a move that rewarded Henry McMaster, the lieutenant governor who became the first statewide elected official to support Trump’s 2016 campaign. Haley’s departure paved the way for McMaster to ascend to the governorship he has sought since losing a bruising primary to none other than Haley seven years ago.

With her Senate confirmation, Haley became the first Indian American in a Presidential Cabinet.

During her nearly two-year tenure, Haley has at times clashed with other administration officials while bolstering her own public persona.

One of her most memorable moments as UN ambassador came in 2018 after National Economic Council Director Larry Kudlow suggested Haley suffered a “momentary confusion” when she said Russia sanctions were imminent.

“With all due respect, I’m not confused,” he replied. The first half of the quote became the title of his 2019 memoir.

His departure later that year fueled speculation that he would challenge Trump in 2020 or replace Pence on the ticket. He didn’t do anything either.

Instead, Haley returned to South Carolina, where he bought a house in the wealthy enclave of Kiawah Island, joined the board of aircraft manufacturer Boeing Co., launched himself on the speaking circuit and wrote two books, including a memoir.

After the insurrection in Jan. 6, 2021, Haley first cast doubt on Trump’s political future but said she would not challenge him in 2024. She later moved on, citing inflation, crime, drugs and a “foreign policy in disarray” among her reasons for in consideration of the White House campaign.

During his stop in South Carolina last month, Trump told WIS-TV that Haley called to ask for his opinion on running for president. Trump pointed to his earlier promise not to run against her but said he did not try to stop her.

“He said he’s not going to run against me because I’m the greatest president, but people change their opinions, and they change what’s in their hearts,” Trump said. “So I said, ‘If your heart wants to do it, you have to do it.’”

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