Nikki Haley Is Running for President, the First G.O.P. Rival to Take On Trump

February 14, 2023 Politics 1 Views

Since leaving the Trump administration in 2018, Ms. Haley has walked a fine line with the former president, praising his policies and accomplishments in office while offering criticism that appeals to Republican moderates. The day after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, she said his actions “will be judged harshly by history.”

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But she opposed his impeachment for his actions surrounding the riot. “At some point, I mean, give the man a break,” she said on Fox News in late January 2021.

In the video, Ms. Haley does not mention Mr. Trump’s name, but she makes clear her intention to make a break with the Trump era. In addition to calling for a new generation to step up, she urges a return to “the values that still make our country the freest and greatest in the world.”

“Republicans have lost the popular vote in seven out of the last eight presidential elections,” she said. “That has to change.”

In interviews last month, Ms. Haley swiped at the age of both Mr. Trump, 76, and President Biden, 80. “I don’t think you need to be 80 years old to go be a leader in D.C.,” she told Fox News.

To advance into the top tier of Republican presidential hopefuls, Ms. Haley’s campaign is banking on her skills as a retail campaigner in early primary states. She will travel to New Hampshire after a rally planned in South Carolina on Wednesday, for a pair of town hall-style events, and she plans to be in Iowa next week.

Ms. Haley, who was born in Bamberg, S.C., and graduated from Clemson University, worked for her family’s dress boutique, including as bookkeeper, before winning the first of three terms in the South Carolina House of Representatives.