Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, announced Tuesday morning that she is running for the Republican presidential nomination, saying it’s “time for a new generation of leadership.”
In a nearly four-minute video address posted to Twitter, Haley announced her 2024 campaign by standing up for the country’s founding principles, calling for a change in the nation’s politics, and pitching herself as a new kind of leader who will not put up with bullies. “And when you kick back, it hurts them more if you’re wearing heals,” said Haley, who would be the first female president if elected.
Haley, the first Asian American woman to become governor in U.S. history, is the first Republican to jump in the race to challenge former president Donald Trump – her former boss – who announced his candidacy in November. With her call for a “new generation of leadership,” Haley, who is 51, took a veiled swipe at both Trump, who is 76, and President Joe Biden, who is 80, and the oldest person ever to serve as president.
She also called for a new direction for the Republican party, which she noted has “lost the popular vote in seven out of the last eight presidential elections.”
“That has to change,” she said.
Get excited! Time for a new generation.
Let’s do this! 👊 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/BD5k4WY1CP
— Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) February 14, 2023
Haley started the announcement by recalling her childhood in Bamberg, S.C., the state she served as governor from 2011 to 2017.
“The railroad tracks divided the town by race. I was the proud daughter of Indian immigrants. Not Black. Not White. I was different,” Haley says in the beginning of the clip. “But my mom would always say your job is not to focus on the differences but the similarities, and my parents reminded me and my siblings every day how blessed we were to live in America.”
Over images of the New York Times’ 1619 Project, a burning American flag, and an angry Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Haley said that “some look at our past as evidence that America’s founding principles are bad. They say the promise of freedom is just made up. Some think our ideas our not just wrong, but racist and evil. Nothing could be further from the truth.”
Haley said that she has seen real evil, noting genocide in China and government-sanctioned murders in Iran. “Even on our worst day, we are blessed to live in America,” she said.
The video focused heavily on her pride in South Carolina, where she was born, raised, and rose to political prominence. “So I have seen the very best of our country,” she said, adding that during her tenure South Carolina became a destination for Americans seeking a fresh start.
When evil came to the city, she said, referring to the 2015 mass shooting by a white supremacist at a historically-black church in Charleston, “we turned away from fear, toward God, and the values that still make our country the freest and greatest in the world.”
“We must turn in that direction again,” she said.
“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 later in the video.
As governor, Haley advocated for, and successfully removed, the Confederate flag from statehouse grounds following the church attack that killed nine parishioners. Haley urged prosecutors to pursue the death penalty against the shooter, Dylann Roof.
The following year, she opposed legislation introduced in the state Senate mandating that transgender people use bathrooms that corresponded with their sex. “I don’t believe it’s necessary,” Haley said at the time.
“When I look at South Carolina, we look at our situations,” she said. “We’re not hearing of anybody’s religious liberties that are being violated, and we’re again not hearing any citizens that feel like they’re being violated in terms of freedoms.”
Last month, Haley called Trump to discuss the prospect of running. “Go by your heart if you want to run,” Trump told Haley, according to reports.
Haley had repeatedly dismissed ambitions to run for the presidency. At one point, she stated, “I would never run against my president – he [Trump] was a great president.”
However, Haley has changed her tune in recent months and has become increasingly vocal about the need for change in American politics.“When you’re looking at the future of America, I think it’s time for new generational change,” Haley said in January. “I don’t think you need to be 80 years old to go be a leader in D.C.”
Haley also re-shared previous comments she had made calling for older politicians to undergo a “cognitive test” to ensure their fitness for office.
“[W]e seriously need to have a conversation that if you’re gonna have anyone above a certain age in a position of power — whether it’s the House, whether it’s the Senate, whether it’s vice president, whether it’s president — you should have some sort of cognitive test,” Haley argued in a clear dig at both Trump and Biden.
Haley’s announcement makes her the first former Trump staffer to enter the race. Former vice president Mike Pence, former secretary of state Mike Pompeo, and former national-security adviser John Bolton are also considered to be potential GOP presidential contenders.
Haley is set to host her first campaign speech in Charleston, S.C., on Wednesday.