The race is (almost) on: former UN ambassador Nikki Haley promised a “special announcement” to her supporters on Wednesday, prefiguring a candidacy for the US presidential election on February 15.
“My family and I have a special announcement for you,” said the fifty-something on Twitter, inviting her activists to meet on this date in the state of South Carolina, of which she was governor.
The former diplomat, appointed to the UN in 2017 by Donald Trump, has been flirting for several weeks with a declaration of candidacy for the presidential election of 2024.
If these ambitions are confirmed, Nikki Haley will become in mid-February the first notable candidate to challenge the former president, who is currently not benefiting from the campaign dynamics he was hoping for.
Stuck in a series of cases, the ex-tenant of the White House is also struggling for the moment to raise funds. However, he could greatly benefit from the upcoming lifting of the suspension of his Facebook and Instagram accounts, finding there a very lucrative megaphone.
After going it alone for two and a half 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, senator Tim Scott… many Republicans are considering a possible candidacy.
And the battle for the Republican nomination promises to be bitter.
The spotlight is mostly on Ron DeSantis—Florida governor and rising party star—but he hasn’t officially entered the race yet.
On the Democratic side, President Joe Biden has said so far that he “intends to run again”, and has promised to make his decision public soon.
Gradually, the architecture of his possible candidacy is also beginning to take shape.
After a reception on Tuesday in New York, the octogenarian leader will be in Philadelphia on Friday, meeting wealthy supporters to fill his party’s coffers.
Political experts are predicting a possible announcement after his State of the Union address, the traditional general policy speech of presidents delivered to parliamentarians, and scheduled for February 7.
No Democrat has yet come forward to challenge him.