Republican Nikki Haley launched her 2024 presidential campaign Wednesday, betting that her transgressive career as a woman and a person of color who ruled the heart of the South before representing America on the world stage can trump entrenched support for her former boss, former President Donald Trump.
Haley, a former South Carolina governor and ambassador to the United Nations, made her first public appearance as a White House hopeful in the historic seaside city of Charleston, casting herself as a generational change figure who can help the party win again. the White House.
“If you’re tired of losing, trust a new generation,” Haley said.
She drew heavily on her UN experience, her background as the daughter of Indian immigrants, and spoke hopefully about the country, saying, “Trust me, America is not a racist country.”
The rally was also a first attempt to show strength in his home state, where a critical early primary is taking place that is influencing the fate of the GOP ticket. Earlier on Wednesday, Rep. Ralph Norman – whom Trump endorsed in the 2022 midterm elections – became the first member of the South Carolina House of Representatives to publicly endorse Haley.
Norman was in charge of introducing Haley, comparing her to Conservative icon and former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, and alluding to Haley as Trump’s heir, saying the former president had been the right leader when he came on the scene in 2016.
Hundreds of people gathered an hour before Haley’s speech at a metal structure known as The Shed, adjacent to the Charleston visitor center. The crowd was dotted with campaign signs and American flags, while loud music played from a set of speakers.
Retiree Connie Campbell said she was all for the former governor, who she said “has a lot to offer.” “She has a lot of experience in politics and as a family person, a mother, a wife,” she added, noting her admiration for the way Haley steered South Carolina through tragedies like the Charleston shooting. “She had to go through a lot as our governor.”
Haley posted a video Tuesday declaring her candidacy, making her the first major Republican to officially challenge Trump, but she won’t be the last. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Vice President Mike Pence and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo are among those expected to launch campaigns in the coming months. Sen. Tim Scott, Haley’s classmate from South Carolina, is also mulling a run for the White House.
As presidential primary season approaches, the big question is whether anyone will be able to replace Trump at the top of a party he transformed with his first campaign in 2016. He remains popular with a wide swath of voters who will have a significant influence in the primaries, although some party officials have blamed him for the lackluster results of Republicans in last year’s midterm elections.
Haley, 51, made only a passing reference to the 76-year-old former president, noting that he appointed her ambassador to the United Nations. The former governor relied mainly on her experience with world leaders and her arguments about the need for a change in leadership in the United States.
“Today our enemies think that the American era has passed. They are wrong. The United States is not past its prime. What happens is that our politicians are past theirs,” he said.
It seems Republicans are open to fresh faces, according to a new poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research. In an open question asking Republicans to choose who they want to lead their party, most Republicans chose neither Trump nor DeSantis, considered the former president’s main rival. But they also had no clear alternative in mind.
Eleven other politicians, including Haley, were named by just 1% of Republicans as their preferred leader.
Haley is likely to distinguish herself in the GOP camp in part by emphasizing her biography. In a video posted Tuesday, she spoke of her childhood in a small South Carolina town as the daughter of immigrants who suffered racist taunts.
But on Wednesday he rejected the idea that the United States is “a racist country.” “This self-hatred is a virus more dangerous than any pandemic,” she said.
That argument could resonate with Republican voters, as many in the party push for efforts to block or change the way systemic racism is taught in schools and universities.
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