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CNN
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Former South Carolina Republican Gov. Nikki Haley announced Tuesday in a video that she will run for president in 2024. Haley is expected to deliver remarks Wednesday in Charleston at a campaign launch event.
“The Washington establishment has failed us over and over and over again. It’s time for a new generation of leadership to rediscover fiscal responsibility, secure our border and strengthen our country, our pride and our purpose,” Haley said in the video.
Haley served as US ambassador to the United Nations under former President Donald Trump. Trump, who announced his bid last year, recently appeared to bless her entrance into the race, telling reporters that she had called to tell him she was considering a campaign launch and that he had said, “You should do it.”
Haley, the daughter of Indian immigrants, opened the video talking about how she felt “different” growing up in Bamberg, South Carolina.
“The railroad tracks divided the town by race. I was the proud daughter of Indian immigrants. Not Black, not White. I was different. But my mom would always say your job is not to focus on the differences but the similarities. And my parents reminded me and my siblings every day how blessed we were to live in America,” Haley said.
Haley touted her record as a twice-elected governor of South Carolina and her leadership in the state after nine people were fatally shot at a historically Black church in Charleston in 2015. After the shooting, Haley called for the removal of the Confederate flag from the grounds of the Statehouse.
She leaned into her foreign policy experience in her announcement and referenced her time as UN ambassador, saying she has “seen evil.”
“Some look at our past as evidence that America’s founding principles are bad. They say the promise of freedom is just made up. Some think our ideas are not just wrong, but racist and evil. Nothing could be further from the truth,” Haley said. “I have seen evil. In China they commit genocide. In Iran they murder their own people for challenging the government. And when a woman tells you about watching soldiers throw her baby into a fire it puts things into perspective. Even on our worst day, we are blessed to live in America.”
“Some people look at America and see vulnerability,” Haley said. “The socialist left sees an opportunity to rewrite history. China and Russia are on the march. They all think we can be bullied, kicked around. You should know this about me: I don’t put up with bullies and when you kick back it hurts them more if you’re wearing heels.”
Haley gave her clearest public indication that she planned to seek the Republican nomination during a January interview.
“When you’re looking at a run for president, you look at two things: You first look at, does the current situation push for new leadership? The second question is, am I that person that could be that new leader?” she told Fox News.
“Yes, we need to go in a new direction,” Haley said. “And can I be that leader? Yes, I think I can be that leader.”
Haley has often attempted to walk a fine line between allying with Trump and distancing herself enough to appeal to his more moderate critics. She left the Trump administration in 2018 on good terms with the then-president – a marked contrast from other former Trump officials who have publicly fallen out with their onetime boss.
This story has been updated with additional details.
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