Nikki Haley stepped forward on Tuesday as she entered the 2024 presidential campaign in the United States, challenging former President Donald Trump for the Republican nomination in search of “a new generation” of conservative leaders.
“I am a presidential candidate,” the 51-year-old former US ambassador to the UN declared in a video addressed to her supporters.
The announcement has been expected for several weeks, it finally arrived on Valentine’s Day, and it will probably be the only female candidate Republican to the White House. Haley believes she can revitalize the party, and a country she says has lost its way in recent years and suffers from racial tensions.
She is convinced that her origins, as the daughter of Indian immigrants, play in her favor. “Not black, not white. I was different,” she said in the video recorded in Bamberg, the South Carolina city where she was born. “But my mother always said, ‘Your job is not to focus on the differences, but on the similarities.'”
“A New Generation”
“It is time for a new generation of leadership,” he states in the message, in which he does not hesitate to criticize the balance of the Republicans in the last legislative elections last November.
she bets on “rediscover fiscal responsibility, ensure the security of our border and strengthen our country, our pride and our purpose” because even on the bleakest of days “we are incredibly lucky to live in the United States,” he tells them.
Wrapped in a series of judicial entanglements, Trump, a candidate since November 15 and who appointed her to the UN in 2017, lacks for the moment the momentum he expected. The former real estate mogul, who has yet to react to Haley’s announcement, sees potential contenders emerging in the Republican ranks.
His former vice president Mike Pence, his former head of diplomacy Mike Pompeo or the governor of Virginia Glenn Youngkin… Many are thinking about it.
According to the polls, which are sometimes wrong, Haley, who grew up in a small South Carolina town before becoming governor, is not the main threat to Donald Trump. In fact, she herself may have to face a state rival of hers: South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, who is also considering her candidacy.
And coincidence or not, Scott will be participating in a rally this week in the seaside city of Charleston. But among all the names one stands out: Ron DeSantis, governor of Florida and rising star of the party, who has not yet made a move. Therefore, everything indicates that the battle for the Republican nomination will be arduous.
“Popcorn”
The Republican candidate who emerges from the primaries will face the nominee of the Democratic Party in November 2024.
“Haley’s announcement officially kicks off the 2024 Trump messy primary,” Democratic Party leader Jaime Harrison said. “Get out the popcorn,” he added, hinting that it will be similar to a Hollywood blockbuster action movie.
On the Democratic side, President Joe Biden has announced that “he intends to run”, without having specified it for the moment.
