Former South Carolina Republican Gov. Nikki Haley, has announced that she will run for president in 2024. She is the first major rival to challenge former President Donald Trump for the grand old party nomination.
Haley served as US ambassador to the United Nations under Trump. If successful in the primary, she would be the first woman and the first Asian American nominated by the Republican Party for president.
A former president of the National Association of Women Business Owners, she was first elected to the South Carolina House in 2004. Six years later, she became the first woman elected as governor of the state in 2010 and was the youngest governor in the nation when she took office in 2011.
She resigned in the middle of her second term to become Trump’s ambassador to the UN – a role she served in until the end of 2018.
Haley will likely face stiff competition in this lane from other potential grand old party candidates such as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who are all said to be weighing 2024 runs.
They could also appeal to conservative Republicans looking to turn the page from Trump.
Some Republican strategists say a big Republican primary field would be advantageous to Trump, who still enjoys significant support among the party base, and could splinter the vote, allowing the former president to walk away with the nomination.
Haley filed to run for president with the Federal Election Commission on Tuesday.
