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Former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley is no longer just leaning toward a presidential bid … she’s in.
After originally pledging to endorse former U.S. president Donald Trump – the only other announced candidate in the race – Haley will reportedly launch her candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination in Charleston, S.C. on February 15, 2023.
Her announcement will be held at The Shed at the Charleston Visitor’s Center downtown.
News of Haley’s presidential timetable was first reported by Schuyler Kropf of The (Charleston, S.C.) Post and Courier, citing “a member of Haley’s inner circle” as his source.
The news was quickly confirmed by multiple national media outlets.
Haley began moving toward a presidential bid last fall, telling a crowd at her alma mater in November that “if we decide to get into it, we’ll put 1,000 percent in and we’ll finish it.”
She made her intentions even clearer during an interview with Bret Baier of Fox News earlier this month.
“When you’re looking at a run for president, you look at two things,” Haley told Bret Baier of Fox News. “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?’ That yes, we need to go in a new direction.”
Haley’s answers to those questions?
“Yes, I think I can be that leader,” she said. “I was as governor – I took on a hurting state with double-digit unemployment and we made it the beast of the southeast. As ambassador … I took on the world when they tried to disrespect us and I think I showed what I’m capable of at the United Nations.”
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“So do I think I could be that leader? Yes, but we are still working through things and we’ll figure it out,” Haley continued. "I’ve never lost a race. I said that then I still say that now. I’m not going to lose now, but stay tuned.”
As noted, Haley's decision to seek the presidency is an about-face from her prior proclamations.
“I would not run if President Trump ran,” Haley told reporter Meg Kinnard of The Associated Press in April of 2021.
Asked point blank by Kinnard whether she would support another Trump presidential bid, Haley responded “yes.”
Confronted by Baier about her flip-flop, Haley said she changed her mind because “the survival of America matters.”
She also implied that Trump – who turns 77 this spring – is too old for the job.
“When you’re looking at the future of America, I think it’s time for new generational change,” Haley told Baier. “I don’t think you need to be 80 years old to go be a leader in D.C. I think we need a young generation to come in, step up, and really start fixing things.”
Haley begins her 2024 presidential bid with some serious ground to make up. According to the latest composite polling data from Real Clear Politics, she is backed by only 3.2 percent of the GOP primary electorate nationally.
And while Trump's former United Nations ambassador may think she is the "generational change" American needs, GOP primary voters appear to be gravitating to Florida governor Ron DeSantis as the top alternative to Trump. DeSantis is backed by 30.8 percent of primary voters, according to Real Clear Politics, compared to Trump's 46.4 percent support.
DeSantis is also well ahead of Haley in her home state.
According to a recently released poll from the Atlanta, Georgia-based Trafalgar Group, the 44-year-old Jacksonville native is backed by 27.8 percent of the state’s GOP electorate – putting him just 15.6 percentage points behind the former president.
Is Haley even the third choice in the state she led from 2011-2017? No. U.S. senator Tim Scott was backed by 14.3 percent of South Carolina Republican voters, while Haley came in fourth with 11.6 percent support.
(Click to View)
As I noted last month, Trump has seen his star fade among GOP voters nationally following the 2022 midterm elections - but he continues to be backed by broad swaths of the Republican electorate.
Trump told reporters in South Carolina last weekend that Haley recently called him to discuss her aspirations
"I told her go by your heart if you want to run," Trump said.
“I have taken a dim view of Haley over the years, but I have never – and would never – write her off,” I noted last summer. “Her identitypolitik, financial backing and neocon support are a potent cocktail at the national level – one which has kept her in the mix despite multiple unforced errors and an underlying lack of consistency.”
Obviously, this author has quite the history with Haley – but that hasn’t stopped me from objectively assessing her ascendancy on the national stage. Nor will it stop me from continuing to objectively assess her prospects objectively moving forward.
“Commentators who rely on anything less than their best judgment and their most compelling arguments – or who inconsistently apply these to the subjects they cover – won’t keep their audiences very long,” I noted in a column on Haley two months ago. “Nor will they maintain the respect of their audiences very long.”
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR ...
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and seven children.
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28 comments
NIMRATA NIMRATA NIMRATA Lack of ego is not your problem. But you’re to well known in South Carolina to win the primary.
Either you are a liar or she is. The liar shouldnt keep their job or spouse. Which is it Bill? Have you signed an NDA or similar legal document? She literally fucked you and lied to everyone and called you a liar repeatedly and you got nothing? Sounds like someone who is a liar or doesnt want their own skeletons listed for the national media. Cause despite your fame, there are tales that are yet to hit the press, everyone knows. Treat the affair with some credibility. You are about to read about yourself on the national stage and its got to be keeping you up at night. As usual, sucks to be you, but you just. Cant. Stop.
Sure makes you wonder what happened to that book that was just around the corner to being published, and then poof. Maybe the NDA theory has legs to it, who knows. Could have equally been a publisher backing out of it, maybe due to legal threats, and then no other publisher wanted to touch his book. There doesn’t even have to be arm twisting. Keep in mind political parties are known for gaming the NYT Best Sellers list by buying up pallets worth of books to artificially inflate book sales to get it up there, so the only reason a lot of these hacks get their ghost-written nonsense published in the first place is because of guaranteed book “sales”.
Honestly though after Trump and Sanfraud I don’t think any GOPer is going to care about infidelity by a Republican, man or woman. After Herschel, they wouldn’t even give a damn if Nikki had to secretly get an abortion after the romp. And after George Santos they certainly don’t care how badly she lies. They don’t ask themselves if they’re the baddies anymore. It’s easy to sleep at night on a bed made of money, just ask Ben Shapiro.
We had a little “come to Jesus” meeting with little William.
He doesn’t remember the made up affair now.
I was abusing drugs and alcohol when I made up that story.
Sorry.
Ah…Nimratta—her family declared bankruptcy in South Carolina before Nimratta ran for public office and parlayed that into now owning two $2 million homes—she stabbed conservatives in the back and now couldn’t get elected dog catcher—so greedy ambitious she’d sell her grandmother’s jugular vein to enrich herself…bahahahahahahaha bahahahahahahaha bahahahahahahaha !!!
Bless her heart and Lord, help us!
Since she is placing so low in polls in her home state apparently her strategy is to hope to be more popular in states where people don’t know her as well.
The rest of the country thinks NC and SC are the same State. If they think about them at all.
Nikki stood up to the racist losers and their loser flag and won. That all the rest of the country will care about.
Polls when she hasn’t even announced her running yet? Can you list any of these polls?
‘TRICKY NICKY!” The most corrupt Governor in the past 50 years. We just can’t get rid of this crooked BIMBO!
Like how Nikki got rid of the loser flag from the Statehouse?
That was really important to you, wasn’t it? I mean, it really made a difference in the quality of life for South Carolina’s citizens, did it not?
The demographic supposedly so hurt and oppressed by it still are enjoying high rates of illegitimacy. They are killing each-other off in even greater numbers than they did before that awful flag came down. Who needs white supremacists, who rarely if ever cause physical harm to blacks, when blacks kill each other every day, somewhere in the midlands.
She was the only one with the balls to pull that stupid flag down. I’ll vote for her.
She didn’t have the balls to do it.
She had good polling data that told her the time was ripe to strike. And a good enough political operation to know that the votes were finally there in the legislature. Because other people were leading the effort.
How are things in Tel Aviv tonight Larry.Now that country has a real loser flag,the symbol of Satan.
Nikki is so much smarter than her MAGA idiot peers. So are most people, but Nikki has a talent for using and manipulating these goofball men who make up the face of the Republican Congress.
Nikki will be a top contender for the GQP nomination, no doubt. And her tossing that lame, loser’s flag in the dust bin of history will appeal to average Americans across the country.
Of course she will never be President, because she doesn’t have broad support from people like you. Republicans are a total stupid mess. It’s fun to watch from a far. Can’t imagine living in a red state these days. Too much crime and death.
Saying she is smarter than MAGA isn’t setting the bar very high.
As much as this pains me to say, Nikki seemed to be the only member of the Trump admin who had any sense in the early days. No one in that admin seemed to communicate with each other as each had a different message.
Nikki’s polling in SC is irrelevant. The people of NY knew what a POS Trump was so he never carried his home state but he won the Presidency.
Ah…Nimratta—her family declared bankruptcy in South Carolina before Nimratta ran for public office and parlayed that into now owning two $2 million homes—she stabbed conservatives in the back and now couldn’t get elected dog catcher—so greedy ambitious she’d sell her grandmother’s jugular vein to enrich herself…bahahahahahahaha bahahahahahahaha bahahahahahahaha !!!
lol
How many bankruptcies did trump have before you voted for him twice?
Donald Trump’s Dad gave him $500 million dollars over the years to prop up his incredible horrible business forays and numerous bankruptcies.
So, Nikki should be just fine to you.
Remember how Haley allowed the likes of Greg Ryberg et-al to burn, loot, and pillage, the SC Retirement Systems? This is something it has never fully recovered from. How about the SC DOR computer hacking disaster? Then there were all the cronies and “associates” she installed in various agencies that continued to do harm to morale and productivity long after she was gone, not the least of which was the Smith guy she brought up from Florida to ru(i)n SC Dept of Public Safety. He was like a chronic herpes lesion on the genitals of DPS, somehow just never going completely away, for years. I understand at the SCDMV, they still answer the phones with that idiotic “We’re having a great day in South Carolina”, or whatever silliness she required state offices to answer their phones with after she took office.
Thanks, but no thanks! I had always been one of those guys who supported the idea of qualified women running for and holding political office. I supported and voted for Nikki Haley in her first term. By two months into her first term, I was feeling serious buyer’s remorse. She caused me to re-evaluate my thoughts on women in politics. The likes of her and Katrina (aka Jakie Knotts, Jr) showed me that as bad as the men in politics are for the most part, if you want something really screwed up, put a woman in charge. Their greed, self-centeredness, and ambition for self-service, are orders of magnitude above that of the average male politician.
But … but … but …
It’s a GREAT day in South Carolina!
lol
Such fragile sick energy. Of course, you have zero good male role-models in the GQP. Gym Jordan? Matt Gaetz? Lyndsey? Alex Jones? Kanye? George “drag queen” santos?
lol
Oh god, the list is never ending!
Test
I can only say I hope she has a back up plan. Nikki is delusional if really think she stand a chance. Is she hoping for a VP pick. I do not believe she can get enough support to get elected dog catcher.
Nikki is just another version of the two-faced Lindsey Graham. We don’t need that.