She got into the race: Republican Nikki Haley announced on Tuesday that she would run for the 2024 US presidential election, becoming the first notable candidate to challenge Donald Trump.
“I am a candidate for the presidential election,” said the 50-year-old in a video to her supporters.
The former diplomat, rightly appointed to the UN in 2017 by Donald Trump, had been approached for several weeks to announce her entry into the competition for the White House.
She had promised a “special announcement” Wednesday to her supporters in Charleston, South Carolina, the state of which she served as governor. She will speak there in her first major meeting inaugurating her campaign.
“Incredible luck”
“Even in our darkest days, we are incredibly lucky to live in America,” says the daughter of an Indian immigrant couple, who grew up in a small town in South Carolina.
But “the time has come for a new generation of leaders”, she urges in her message, not hesitating to criticize the record of the Republicans, where Donald Trump was kingmaker, during the last elections.
Stuck in a series of cases, the former president, candidate since November 15, does not benefit for the moment from the dynamics of campaign that he hoped for.
The former real estate mogul didn’t immediately react to Nikki Haley’s announcement.
But after going it alone for three months, Donald Trump is gradually seeing the ranks of his Republican rivals fill up.
Donald Trump’s former vice-president, Mike Pence, his ex-head of diplomacy, Mike Pompeo, the governor of Virginia, Glenn Youngkin… many Republicans are considering a possible announcement soon.
For Nikki Haley, the threat could come directly from her state: South Carolina senator Tim Scott is also very openly flirting with a candidacy.
But most of the spotlight is on Ron DeSantis—Florida governor and rising party star. He hasn’t officially entered the race either.
The battle for the Republican nomination therefore promises to be bitter.
” Pop corn “
Donald Trump, Nikki Haley, or another… The candidate chosen by the Republican camp at the end of the primaries will face in November 2024 the one nominated by the Democratic Party.
“Haley’s announcement officially kicks off the long-awaited messy 2024 Trumpist primary,” said Democratic Party Leader Jaime Harrison. “Bring out the popcorn,” he added, implying that there would be action and casualties like in a Hollywood blockbuster.
President Joe Biden has said so far that he “intends to run again”, and has promised to make his decision public at the start of the year.
And little by little, the architecture of his possible candidacy also begins to take shape.
No Democrat has yet come forward to challenge him.