Haley kicks off 2024 GOP presidential bid, 'ready for a new generation to lead us into the future'

Nikki Haley kicked off her 2024 campaign Wednesday morning in Charleston, South Carolina, vowing to bring in a new generation of GOP leadership and return American to its former luster.

"We are more than ready to have a new generation to lead us into the future," she said to cheers of "Nikki, Nikki, Nikki." "I am running for president of the United States of America."

Haley, a former South Carolina governor, began her speech with her trademark line, "It's a great day in South Carolina."

As a daughter of immigrant parents, Haley said, she believes "even on our worst day we are blessed to live in America." 

Haley a day earlier ended speculation about a possible 2024 bid by announcing her run on social media.

On Wednesday, she reiterated some of the promises she made in the Twitter video, including plans for a more rugged U.S. foreign policy and announced other goals including a move toward ending political correctness, cancel culture and so-called woke culture. 

"This self loathing is a virus more dangerous than any pandemic" she said. "America isn't perfect, but the principles at America's core are perfect."

The former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, also put the blame at the feet of Democrat President Biden.

"Now our America is falling behind, our future is flipping," she said. "Nobody embodies that failure more than Joe Biden."

Haley is officially the first candidate to challenge former President Trump for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination.

Trump, who appointed Haley to her ambassador post, announced his bid in November 2022.  

Haley on Wednesday also vowed to bring in a fresh face to government, saying, "America is not past our prime, it's just that our politicians are past theirs." 

She said in the video that she'll now travel to early-balloting states New Hampshire and Iowa in the coming days.

The daughter of Indian immigrants, Haley would be the first female Asian-American nominated by the GOP if she is successful in the party primary. 

"As a brown girl growing up in a black and white world, I saw the promise of America unfold before me," she said in Charleston.

Haley in recent interviews and in the video hinted that the focus of her campaign would take aim at cancel culture and "woke-ism."

The America she sees today is "weak and woke," she said Wednesday. "It is unbelievable that America would look at the sky and see a Chinese air balloon looking back at us."

On the topic of school, Haley says parents will have authority in selecting their children schools and no politician will ever close them again.

She gives a laundry list of successful changes she made in South Carolina that she will prioritize in her campaign. 

"Voter ID will be the law of the land just like we did in South Carolina," Haley said.

To stop the surge of drugs and illegal immigration, Haley said there should be a real border and mandatory E- verify documents like is done in South Carolina. 

The goal: "businesses must hire Americans not illegal," Haley said. 

Haley was first elected governor in 2011  as the youngest governor in the nation. She then resigned to become Trump's ambassador to the United Nations until 2018, where she has famously supported strong U.S- Israel relations and stood up to “bullies.”

“Our cause is right but we have failed to win the confidence of a majority of Americans” said Haley “well that ends today."