The Republican lineup of presidential nominees expects to add former United States ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley.
Haley hinted again in a tweet Wednesday she would join the 2024 US presidential race.
“My family and I have a big announcement to share with you on February 15th! And yes, it’s definitely going to be a Great Day in South Carolina!” her tweet to supporters read, according to Agence France-Presse.
The event is in Charleston, the Palmetto State’s largest town.
Haley, 51, who was South Carolina’s governor before serving for two years as former president Donald Trump’s UN envoy, had said she wouldn’t run against her former boss, the first member of the conservative party to declare his third bid for the White House.
Trump’s reaction appears to raise questions over her loyalty.
“Nikki has to follow her heart, not her honor. She should definitely run!” his social media post read.
Face of diversity
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 criticized 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 three percent in 2024 primary opinion polls, according to Morning Consult, trailing Trump at 48 percent.
She also trails other potential Republican contenders, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis who has 31 percent, and former vice preisdent Mike Pence, who is also in single digits. WITH AFP