Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, called for a new generation of leadership during her 2024 presidential campaign kickoff speech on Wednesday, taking shots at the older generation of politicians in the White House and in Congress.
“We’re ready to move past the stale ideas and faded names of the past and we are more than ready for a new generation to lead us into the future,” said Haley, who at 51 would offer a change in pace from 80-year-old President Joe Biden and 76-year-old former president Donald Trump. Trump is the only other candidate who has formally announced a 2024 bid.
She later added: “Today our enemies think that the American era has passed. They’re wrong. America is not past our prime, it’s just that our politicians are past theirs.” The line was met with huge applause from the crowd in Charleston, S.C.
Haley said, “We won’t win the fight for the 21st century if we keep trusting politicians from the 20th century.”
At the conclusion of her speech, she said she sees an America where the “permanent politician will finally retire,” calling for term limits in Congress and mandatory mental competency tests for politicians over 75.
The comments come one day after 89-year-old Senator Diane Feinstein (D., Calif.) announced she will retire at the end of her term. Feinstein has faced scrutiny in recent years about memory issues and possible mental decline and seemed confused about her own retirement announcement on Tuesday. When she was asked about the announcement by reporters on Capitol Hill on Tuesday, Feinstein replied, “Well, I haven’t made that decision. I haven’t released anything. It would be my plan — you put out the statement? I didn’t know they put it out. Okay. So it is what it is.”
Haley on Wednesday painted the “new generation” — and herself — as a path forward for the Republican Party, which she noted has lost the popular vote in seven of the last eight presidential elections.
“Our cause is right, but we have failed to win the confidence of a majority of Americans,” she said. “Well, that ends today. If you’re tired of losing, then put your trust in a new generation.”
Haley was sharply critical of Biden in her speech, saying America is “falling behind” and “nobody embodies that failure more than Joe Biden.” She cited a spate of issues facing the country, including inflation, supply chain issues with baby formula, children lagging behind in the classroom, the prevalence of drugs on American streets, and a lack of police and border patrol agents.
“Joe Biden isn’t even leading from behind. He’s not leading at all,” she said. “On his watch, a terrorist mob conquered Afghanistan – and killed our troops. Iran is on the brink of getting the bomb. North Korea is launching more missiles than ever. Russia started the biggest war in Europe in 75 years.”
Haley, who is likely to focus her campaign on foreign policy issues after serving as the ambassador to the UN under the Trump administration, said China is the “strongest and most disciplined enemy” the U.S. has faced in its history.
It is “unthinkable that Americans would look at the sky and see a Chinese spy balloon looking back at us,” she said, referring to the massive surveillance balloon that hovered above sensitive locations in Montana earlier this month before being shot down by the U.S. military off the Carolina coast.
Haley is the first Republican to jump into the race against Trump and would notch a number of firsts if she became the party’s nominee: she would become the first woman and the first Asian American to be the GOP nominee.
She became the country’s first female Asian American governor when she was elected to lead South Carolina in 2010. When she left the governor’s mansion to become the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations in 2017, she became the first Indian American to serve in the Cabinet.
“Take it from me, the first minority female governor in history, America is not a racist country,” Haley said Wednesday.
She called out Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris for overseeing a “self-loathing” that has swept through the country.
“Everyday we’re told America is flawed, rotten and full of hate,” she said. “Joe and Kamala even say America is racist. Nothing could be further from the truth.”
Haley is the first former Trump staffer to enter the race. Others believed to be weighing a run include former vice president Mike Pence, former secretary of state Mike Pompeo, and former national-security adviser John Bolton.