Nikki Haley’s Campaign-in-Waiting Starts Its Engines

Two existing Haley groups form the foundation of a possible 2024 bid.

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Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley speaks at the Republican Jewish Coalition Annual Leadership Meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada, on November 19, 2022.(Photo by WADE VANDERVORT/AFP via Getty Images)

Nikki Haley is planning to challenge Donald Trump for supremacy atop the Republican Party—and she could make her 2024 presidential bid official as soon as next month.

Haley possesses the architecture of a robust White House campaign operation through the Stand For America political action committee and Stand For America, a 501(c)(4) policy-focused political nonprofit organization. Trusted senior aides are already on board, prepared to step into positions directing political strategy, fundraising, communications, grassroots outreach, and policy development.

“She’s definitely positioned to launch,” Dave Wilson, president of the Palmetto Family Council in Columbia, South Carolina, said of the 51-year-old former United States ambassador to the United Nations. “The rocket is fueled and ready. I think we’re just in the countdown now.” 

Haley—whose extensive resume features a term-and-a-half as governor of South Carolina, a crucial early primary state—also comes to the 2024 contest with a turnkey campaign message.

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  1. Nick.Alpha.Omega

    Nikki Haley is not running for the Presidency.
    She is positioning herself early to be invited into Trump's campaign as a Vice Presidential candidate.

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      Mister D

      I don't know about that. He won't like her challenging him, and he can probably find others who have been more consistently loyal. It seems to me that the Stolen Election is the one and only thing he cares about any more. He's likely going to want someone with absolute fidelity to that narrative.

      I also don't know that Trump's coattails will sustain after he's off the ballot, which he likely will be after 2024, win or lose. Unlike past VP picks, I don't see his choice being a front runner in 2028.

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    Donald E. L. Johnson, Florida

    Commentors are complaining and warning about Nikki Haley's support for Trump and her game playing since the 2020 election and the Jan. 6 debacle.

    Trump and Biden proved that prior behavior does not ensure defeat.

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    Donald E. L. Johnson, Florida

    President Biden and Donald Trump today look like their parties' candidates, but it is very early in the 2024 presidential campaign.

    Assuming they win their parties' nominations, who, if anyone, will run as a third party candidate?

    Should we assume the third party candidate will be a Republican?

    Will the unpopularity of the president and former president give a strong third-party candidate a chance to win the presidency?

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      Donald E. L. Johnson, Florida

      How about a Haley/Liz Cheney ticket?

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        Rochejaquelein

        Why would Liz Cheney sully herself with the likes of Haley?

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    Ben Connelly

    I wish she wouldn’t run but of all those running I’d probably end up voting for her over DeSantis and Trump. Or maybe Pompeo. But honestly if DeSantis is neck-and-neck with Trump I’d vote him to keep Trump out and then vote for whichever anarchist wins the LP nomination in the general.

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      Mister D

      When it comes to the primary (the only reason I remain registered with the GOP), my vote goes to whomever can stop Trump. Preference of the 3 current alternatives would be Haley, DeSantis, then Pompeo, but I am not committing to any of them.

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        Ben Connelly

        Yeah I’m a similar boat

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  5. Menchetta

    Crucial to keep Trump’s competition fr the nomination low, preferably to just ONE(DeSantis), or else he can win by splintering the normie Republican vote.

    Don’t run Nikki.

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    Rlritt

    Nikki Hailey us a rank opportunist. She'll say anything, do anything, be anyone in order to claw her way up the ladder. I feel the same way about Kamala Harris, and I voted for her for Senate. Her behavior during te primary really turned me off because she totally misrepresented herself. Haley is the same kind of person.

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    Earl King

    Haley was my first thought after 2020. Someone who would be accused by women of assault and rape. Someone who wasn’t crass. She is smart, and does have a conservative pedigree. Trump is wrong for more than just his age. But is Haley right? Disappointed in her waffling about Trump, I also am familiar with retail politics.
    No matter what you do need to be concerned about donations and voters. She seemed unsure of how to handle Jan 6th and whether to run against Trump at all. Not a good look. Navigating the Trumpier voters while running against him will be difficult for all. Trump will make it personal.

    However the GOP has another problem. People like me. I won’t vote for him under any circumstances. I’m hoping another pot smoker or former Governor will run as an Independent. There are many like me and they cost the GOP the Senate and more House seats in 2022. Trump and his wacky acolytes are causing GOP loses. There is zero evidence that Trump has expanded his tent. People preferred Democrats to wacky GOP candidates. Trump would lose and possible cost the GOP Senate again.

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    1. Donnybrook

      "Disappointed in her waffling about Trump,"

      As you point out subsequent to that statement, she waffles about everything, and does 180 degree flips so often, with the intent of rewriting her own history, that she should get a gold medal in gymnastics. Then again, she is a politician...

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        Earl King

        Exactly, they all do that to some degree or another. A number of years ago the entire country was taken with Islamic Terrorism. Today? you hardly hear about it. I’m guessing they have to have some flexibility. Haley vs Trump? It is not even a contest. If you’re looking for perfect definitely don’t look to politics.

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      Rlritt

      Would you vote for Sinema? She left the Dems and declared herself Independent. She probably burned her bridges in AZ so where else can she go but the White House. I haven't heard anything though.

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        Earl King

        Anything is possible. Depends on the binary choice I have. Lake or Sinema? Easy.

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  8. BenP

    I'd take Haley, but my enthusiasm would be a lot lower than it would have been if she hadn't tried to backtrack on everything she said after Jan 6th. I still respect her for pissing off then taking down some prominent good ol boys in South Carolina, and she doesn't have DeSantis's propensity for chasing after culture war red meat. I think she genuinely dislikes that element of the Republican base. And she seems like a competent leader who can do the normal politics that we yearn for quite well.

    She's also got that Bill Clinton slickness, where you can rarely trust that she really believes what she's saying.

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      Psmangelsdorf

      I agree, the backtracking on a good position has gotten to be a major issue. When she left the administration and released her book, I was completely on board, and was happy to see her initial comments post Jan 6, but taking them back is a big problem for me.

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  9. Keatonm88

    I think her campaign has great potential

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      Vlad.Nicolaescu

      She is the female Marco Rubio. She seems great on paper, but the reality is no one except people who read the Dispatch and National Review and political consultants like them. And in reality they are hollow cowardly politicians with no real convictions. When the going gets tough they will fold like a cheap folding chair.

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  10. R. James

    Haley is not an alternative to Trump. If you have any doubts about that, just read Haley's own words in the Tim Alberta Politico piece.

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