Last Update: February 14, 2023, 18:45 IST
Charleston, United States
Haley said it was time for a new generation of leadership. (File photo: AFP)
Haley is the 51-year-old former governor of South Carolina and the daughter of Indian immigrants.
Former US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley announced Tuesday that she is running for president in 2024, challenging fellow Republican nominee Donald Trump by proposing a “new generation” of leadership in Washington.
“I’m Nikki Haley and I’m running for president,” the 51-year-old former South Carolina governor and child of Indian immigrants said in a video statement.
“It is time for a new generation of leadership – to rediscover financial responsibility, secure our border, and strengthen our country, our pride and our purpose,” she shot in the South Carolina city of her birth, Bamberg. Said in the video.
Casting herself as a young, fresh alternative to former President Trump, 76, Haley had been hinting at a possible run for weeks and was teasing a “big announcement” on February 15.
Finally, she made her presidential target official the day before, on Valentine’s Day.
Haley is positioning herself as a changemaker who can revitalize a party and country that she says has lost its way in recent years, and she has used her personal background in her videos. Shown as a way to unite a nation fueled by racial tensions.
“I was the proud daughter of Indian immigrants. Not black, not white. I was different,” she said in the clip.
“But my mom always said, ‘Your job isn’t to focus on the differences, but the similarities.'”
“Some look to our past as evidence that America’s founding principles are bad,” she continued.
“They say the promise of freedom is just made up. Some think our views are not only wrong, but racist and evil. Nothing could be further from the truth.”
Haley is unlikely to be the last Republican to throw her hat in the ring.
Some Washington watchers speculated that his announcement could set off a rout from rivals such as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and Trump’s Vice President Mike Pence.
Haley also took a light dig at the current president – who has not formally announced his re-election campaign but is expected to run again – saying “Joe Biden’s record abounds.”
“But this shouldn’t come as a surprise. The Washington establishment has failed us time and time again.”
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(This story has not been edited by News18 staff and is published from a syndicated news agency feed)