Nikki Haley, a former South Carolina governor who also served in the Trump administration, is preparing to run for president in 2024, a source familiar with her planning tells NPR. The Post & Courier newspaper originally reported Haley's intention to run.
A note to supporters, expected to outline her plans, is scheduled to go out Wednesday.
The Republican is set to be the first to challenge former President Donald Trump in a GOP primary election. Trump last year announced another bid for the White House. Haley served as Trump's U.S. ambassador to the United Nations for nearly two years, from 2017 to 2018, when she resigned.
Prior to her tenure in the Trump administration, Haley led the state of South Carolina as governor from 2011 until 2017, when she left to take the job at the U.N. Haley was the first woman to serve as governor of South Carolina.
Since Haley left the Trump White House, she traveled the country with a particular focus on visiting early voting states. She also released a memoir about her time working with the former president.
In 2021, Haley had said she wouldn't run for president if Trump ran again, but recently deviated from her typical line, calling for a new generation of leadership in the Republican Party in an appearance on Fox News that she later posted on Twitter.
It’s time for a new generation.
— Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) January 21, 2023
It’s time for new leadership.
And it’s time to take our country back.
America is worth the fight—and we’re just getting started. pic.twitter.com/L93Q6WirzD
In that Jan. 20 appearance on the Fox News program Hannity, Haley demurred from confirming a presidential campaign but highlighted one of the challenges any Republican candidate faces in a general election: the popular vote.
"We have lost the last seven out of eight popular votes for president," Haley said. "It is time we get a Republican in there that can lead and that can win a general election."
The formal announcement of Haley's presidential campaign is expected Feb. 15 in Charleston, S.C.
NPR's Scott Detrow and Megan Pratz contributed to this story.
Haley gave the GOP response to then-President Barack Obama's 2016 State of the Union address. Here's coverage from that:
