Nikki Haley is coming into the presidential race as Trump’s first challenger for the Republican nomination

Former Republican Gov. of South Carolina Nikki Haley speaks at the annual Republican Jewish Coalition Leadership Meeting on November 19, 2022 in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Wade Vandervort | AFP | Getty Images

Nikki Haley, a former South Carolina governor and United Nations ambassador, announced Tuesday that she will be running in the 2024 presidential campaign, making her the first Republican to challenge her former boss and ex-President Donald Trump for the Republican nomination .

Haley, 51, addressed the age difference between 80-year-old President Joe Biden and her 76-year-old challenger, Trump. Although Biden has not yet officially announced his candidacy, he is expected to do so in the coming weeks.

“Republicans have lost the popular vote in seven of the last eight presidential elections. That needs to change,” Haley said in a video posted to her Twitter account. Calling for a new generation of leaders, she said Biden’s record is “miserable” and the “Washington establishment has let us down time and time again.”

Announcing her run a day before the campaign was scheduled to officially kick off in Charleston, SC, Haley called for financial responsibility and safe borders.

Haley has been assembling a team for weeks to explore a potential run.

In public polls, she is behind Trump and other potential challengers.

A Morning Consult poll on Tuesday, for example, shows that 47% of Republican primary voters support Trump, while just 3% of respondents said they would vote for Haley. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who is widely expected to run in the race, has 31% of GOP support, while Trump’s former Vice President Mike Pence, who has also hinted at a possible run, has 7% of the vote .

One of Trump’s most staunch Republican opponents in the US House of Representatives, former Rep. Liz Cheney, R-Wyo., is tied with Haley on 3% of the vote. None of these potential challenges have officially announced a run.

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