NIKKI HALEY, THE former governor of South Carolina, has announced that she is running for US president in 2024, becoming the first major challenger to fellow candidate Donald Trump for the Republican nomination. 

Announcing the bid in a video shared on Twitter, Haley said it was time for “a new generation of leadership, to rediscover fiscal responsibility, secure our border, and strengthen our country, our pride and our purpose”. 

Haley was South Carolina’s governor from 2011 to 2017 before serving for two years as Trump’s US ambassador to the United Nations. She previously said she would not run against her former boss. 

But she has been hinting at a possible run for weeks, telling Fox News last month that the Republican party needed to go in “a new direction” and that she thought she could lead it into the next election. 

Get excited! Time for a new generation.

Let’s do this! 👊 🇺🇸 pic.twitter.com/BD5k4WY1CP

— Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) February 14, 2023

“Nikki has to follow her heart, not her honor. She should definitely run!” Trump said in an acerbic post on his social network that appeared calculated to raise questions over her loyalty.

Haley, is the first in a long line of Republicans who are expected to launch their own 2024 campaigns in the coming months.

Among them are Florida governor Ron DeSantis, Trump’s former vice president Mike Pence, former secretary of state Mike Pompeo and senator Tim Scott of South Carolina.

President Joe Biden has said he intends to seek reelection in 2024, which has appeared to stall any announcements for the Democratic nomination.

The daughter of Indian immigrants, Nimrata “Nikki” Randhawa was raised in Bamberg, South Carolina as a Sikh, but now identifies as Christian. She is married to a South Carolina National Guard officer and has two children.

Haley rose quickly in the southern state’s politics, building a reputation as a plain-spoken conservative in its House of Representatives from 2005 until 2011, when she was elected governor.

She was the face of diversity in a cabinet criticised for being too white, and left the administration in 2018 with a strong global profile – and a reputation for standing up to her mercurial boss.

But Haley’s messaging on Trump has always been inconsistent.

She endorsed senators Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz during the 2016 Republican presidential primary, calling the brash property baron “everything a governor doesn’t want in a president.”

Since leaving government, her occasional praise of the Trump presidency has been offset by her criticism of his personal conduct, including his involvement in the 2021 attack on the US Capitol.

Haley averages 3% in 2024 primary opinion polls, according to Morning Consult, trailing Trump at 48%, DeSantis at 31%, and Pence, who is also in single digits.

Contains reporting from © AFP 2023