In April 2017, then-U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley publicly addressed speculation that she had her eyes on the presidency. “Everyone thinks that I’m ambitious and everybody thinks I’m trying to run for something and everybody thinks I want more,” she said at the time. “I can’t imagine running for the White House.”
Almost exactly four years later, the South Carolina Republican again addressed her future plans, telling the Associated Press, in reference to a national campaign, “I would not run if President Trump ran.”
Evidently, Haley changed her mind. NBC News reported this morning:
Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley on Tuesday announced her 2024 presidential campaign, making her former President Donald Trump’s first opponent for the Republican nomination. Haley served as ambassador to the United Nations for two years in the Trump administration. She is expected to deliver her in-person announcement speech Wednesday in Charleston, South Carolina.
If the timing seems unexpected, it’s not your imagination: Haley indicated weeks ago that she’d make her 2024 announcement on Feb. 15. For whatever reason, she and her team decided to get the ball rolling a day early.
The Republican Party’s field now has two candidates — Haley and Trump — though the total is expected to grow considerably in the coming weeks and months.
On paper, the South Carolinian appears to be well positioned to be a credible national candidate. After all, Haley has experience as a state legislator, a two-term governor, and an ambassador to the United Nations. She’s routinely bragged that she’s never lost an election, which is entirely accurate.
What’s more, Haley, who recently turned 51, is a relatively young woman from an immigrant family, which might help broaden her electoral appeal.
But all kinds of challenges remain, including her meandering approach to the former president, who also happens to be her former boss.
As Stuart Stevens, a former…
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