Haley’s presidential announcement could open the floodgates in the 2024 GOP nomination race

“See you on the 15th,” says Nikki Haley in a tweet pinned to the top of her Twitter page.

At that point, the former South Carolina governor, who served as ambassador to the United Nations during former President Donald Trump’s tenure, is expected to declare her candidacy for president, joining Trump as the only major Republican to date to campaign in the White House started.

Since Trump entered the presidential race in mid-November, it’s been a field of one in the hunt for the GOP nomination. But Haley’s entry – at an event in Charleston, South Carolina – could open the floodgates, and other likely Republican White House hopefuls will launch their own campaigns in the coming weeks and months.

“While there was clearly some reluctance to jump in early, she’s standing out and creating an opportunity to define herself early and establish her campaign,” longtime New Hampshire-based Republican national strategist Jim Merrill told Fox News.

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Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who served as Ambassador to the United Nations during former President Donald Trump’s tenure, speaks at the annual Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) leadership meeting in Las Vegas on Saturday, Nov. 19 , Nevada, United States. 2022. (Ronda Churchill/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

“My expectation is that over the next few months we’ll see other candidates soon and that we’ll have a robust primary field,” predicted Merrill, a veteran of numerous GOP presidential campaigns.

As the presidential campaign begins more slowly than in previous cycles, the action is gradually picking up steam.

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On the day Haley is expected to start her campaign, former Vice President Mike Pence will be in Iowa, the state whose caucuses kick off the Republican nomination calendar for the presidency. Pence, who has made numerous stints in Iowa as well as the other states of New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada over the past two years, is likely to launch a presidential campaign in the coming months.

Former Vice President Mike Pence will chair the Kaufmann family’s annual Harvest Dinner on September 29, 2022 in Wilton, Iowa. The event attracted Republican officials, politicians, leaders and activists. (AP)

Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, who experts say is a potential presidential candidate, is traveling to Iowa the following week as part of a listening tour first reported by Fox News.

While Trump is the most popular and influential politician in the GOP, and arguably the party’s top fundraiser when it comes to energizing the grassroots, the first three months of his recent White House candidacy have been anything but spectacular.

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Political pundits from both left and right have fired fire at his campaign launch, and he has been criticized by Democrats and some Republicans for controversial actions and comments he has made in recent months. After a lackluster performance by the GOP in the midterms – when the party underperformed in the many-anticipated red wave election – Trump was also accused of uplifting the polarizing Republican candidates who were lost in November.

Former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event at the South Carolina Statehouse Saturday, January 28, 2023 in Columbia, SC (AP)

While the former president was once the overall leader in the GOP’s nomination polls in early 2024, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has eclipsed him in some polls in recent months. Almost every poll lists Trump and DeSantis as favorites, while everyone else is in the single digits.

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DeSantis, a former congressman, narrowly won his first election as governor in 2018, thanks in part to strong support from then-President Trump. But he has seen his popularity soar among conservatives across the country over the past three years, thanks to his vigorous defiance of the coronavirus pandemic restrictions and his aggressive actions as a conservative culture warrior who went after the media and corporations.

The governor became a prolific fundraiser during the 2022 election cycle, raising over $200 million as he built a massive war chest with donations from across the country. And his nearly 20-point win over former Republican governor and Democratic Congressman Charlie Christ helped turn what was once a blockbuster battleground into a red state.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks during a press conference at Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park on Thursday, December 1, 2022 in Key Biscayne, Florida. (AP Photo/Lynne Sladky)

DeSantis routinely dismissed talk of a 2024 White House race for over a year as he focused on his re-election as governor. But he has dropped many hints of a possible presidential nomination since his re-election victory speech in November. And as Fox News first reported, later this month he will publish a memoir titled “The Courage to Be Free: Florida’s Blueprint for America’s Revival.” Writing a book is a rite of passage for many potential and actual presidential candidates.

While sources closer to DeSantis say the launch of a presidential campaign wouldn’t happen until late spring or early summer, Republican sources confirm to Fox News that the governor’s political team has already begun contacting and identifying agents for a possible one Run in the White House.

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Merrill noted, “President Trump starts at the top, but he’s not in the same position he was years ago. So there is an opportunity and Haley is the first to take it. And I am confident that several others will do so in the coming weeks and months.”

Republican adviser David Kochel, a veteran of numerous Iowa and national GOP presidential campaigns, emphasized that as soon as someone else jumps into the running, “Trump will turn on the guns and come after you and start drawing contrasts and giving the right nicknames.” find. “

In recent weeks, Trump has increasingly turned his fire on DeSantis and, to a lesser extent, Haley.

“Trump is at his best when he counters, when he draws contrasts, so denying him direct conflict is also a way of depriving him of oxygen,” Kochel said, pointing to the lack of a robust field to date.

GOP Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina speaks during the annual Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) leadership meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S., on Saturday, November 19, 2022. (Ronda Churchill/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Among others taking steps to campaign or seriously consider a Republican presidential nomination are former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who is currently on a book tour, now former governors. Larry Hogan of Maryland and Asa Hutchison of Arkansas, Govs. Chris Sununu of New Hampshire, Kristi Noem of South Dakota and Glenn Youngkin of Virginia, former Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey and former Representative Will Hurd of Texas.

Longtime GOP adviser and former New Hampshire Attorney General Tom Rath noted that the White House race was “a battle for oxygen and attention,” stressing that both Trump and DeSantis are currently using almost all of the “oxygen and the take full attention”.

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He argued that “it’s difficult for some of the others to develop”.

Merrill agreed that “Trump and DeSantis start in an enviable position as leaders of the Earl Primary. But I am convinced that there is room for other candidates to make arguments and be there in the end. But to do that you have to get in and you have to compete.”