Less than two weeks ago, Nikki Haley was interviewed on Fox’s Special Report. At the time I wrote about that interview and said that it sure sounded like she’s decided to run for president in 2024.

Haley wasn’t ready to announce her candidacy in that interview but she told Bret Baier and the viewing audience, “Stay tuned.” The Post and Courier in Charleston, S.C. broke the news last night after receiving confirmation from members of Haley’s inner circle.

According to an invitation soon going out to her backers, Haley’s advertised “special announcement” will come Feb. 15 at the The Shed at the Charleston Visitor Center, a downtown gathering spot that could draw hundreds of supporters into the heart of the city’s tourism district.

This is the pinned tweet on her Twitter account that remains at the top of her timeline:

It’s time for a new generation.
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

— Nikki Haley (@NikkiHaley) January 21, 2023

Those are the same thoughts she articulated to Bret Baier.

“When you’re looking at a run for president, you look at two things. 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?’”

Answering those two questions, Haley said: “Yes, we need to go in a new direction. And can I be that leader? Yes. I think I can be that leader.”

It is being reported that she called Trump to tell him she is thinking of running. He told her to go by her heart.

During his weekend campaign swing that included a stop at the S.C. Statehouse, Trump told national reporters he recently received a phone call from Haley. Trump said Haley told him “she’d like to consider” a 2024 run of her own.

“I talked to her for a little while. I said, ‘Look, you know, go by your heart if you want to run,’” Trump told reporters, adding that he would welcome the competition.

“She called me and said she’d like to consider it, and I said you should do it.”

Trump then reportedly told Haley, “Go by your heart if you want to run.”

That’s interesting. Will Trump start attacking her now, as he is doing to DeSantis, or will he wait a bit and let her get past her formal announcement?

What Haley’s announcement will do is open up the field of candidates. Right now, Republicans who are considering a run are hanging back. No one has wanted to be the first one in the pool battling Trump. Haley, though, is confidently saying that she has never lost an election and doesn’t plan to start now. Haley was a member of the Trump administration as the ambassador to the United Nations where she did a good job of promoting Trump’s America First agenda.

The long knives are out for Nikki Haley from others. Mike Pompeo, a potential candidate, slams her in his new book for leaving the Trump administration after two years. He and Kellyanne Conway both say she wanted to replace Mike Pence as Trump’s vice-president in 2020.

There are several potential candidates cooling their heels in the background right now. Besides Pompeo, there is Mike Pence, and Ron DeSantis. Tim Scott’s name has been floated, too. That would be a little awkward. Haley appointed Scott as South Carolina’s first Black U.S. senator when she was governor. Haley was the first female governor of South Carolina. Now she has visions of being the first female president. She would also check off the identity box of being a woman of color. We know she will take on criticism because of that, though, because we have already seen it. Progressives trash minorities who are conservatives.

When Haley left the Trump administration and moved back to South Carolina, a non-partisan (wink, wink) group gave Politico an unredacted copy of the 2019 IRS filing for Stand for America, the non-profit advocacy group she founded. The leak was for the purpose of putting the names of Haley’s big donors out for public consumption. That happened last August. It was early opposition research.

It’s still early. There is plenty of time for others to make their decisions. Some real long shots are making noise, like Governor Asa Hutchinson and former Governor Larry Hogan. Also, New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu is toying with the idea of running. I like the idea of a former governor in the White House.

The elephant in the room is Ron DeSantis. I feel certain, at this point, that he will run. He’ll wait, though, until after the Florida Legislature finishes its current session. Don’t look for him to declare his candidacy until late April, or May.

In 2021, Haley said she would not run for president if Trump did in 2024. She’ll be asked about that statement a lot now. She told Bret Baier that she has reconsidered because we need the next generation of leaders to move forward. She can point to her phone call with Trump to talk to him about her possible candidacy. He essentially gave her his blessing to run, if she needed that.

I think Trump’s only real competition will be DeSantis. Like I said, it’s very early.

Stay tuned.