Nikki Haley Says She Will Not Run for President in 2024 If Trump Does

Former ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley speaks at the Republican convention in Washington on Aug. 24, 2020. Olivier Douliery/AFP via Getty Images

A top potential Republican 2024 president candidate said Monday she will not launch a bid if former President Donald Trump decides to run again.

“I would not run if President Trump ran, and I would talk to him about it,” former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley told The Associated Press.

“That’s something that we’ll have a conversation about at some point, if that decision is something that has to be made,” she added.

Haley, 46, is perhaps the most prominent female Republican considered a potential 2024 candidate.

Other potential GOP nominees include South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Like Pompeo, Haley served in the Trump administration, holding the post of U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. She left the role in 2018, saying she wanted to leave the public sector after spending nearly eight years there.

Then-President Donald Trump and then-U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley speak during a meeting on United Nations Reform at the United Nations headquarters in New York on Sept. 18, 2017. Timothy A. Clary/AFP/Getty Images

Haley said Monday that she would back Trump if he runs in 2024. She said the actions by President Joe Biden and the new administration are serving to unite Republicans.

“I think former President Trump’s always been opinionated,” she said, when asked about Trump’s recent criticism of former Vice President Mike Pence and Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

“Just because he left being president, that’s not going to stop. But I think what he also talked about were all the successes that he had in the administration. And I think that’s what Republicans are uniting on. ... Every day Biden and [Vice President] Kamala Harris are in office unites the Republicans,” she said.

Trump has declined so far to commit to a third presidential bid. Late last month, he told daughter-in-law Lara Trump in an interview that she could “have hope“ that he will.

Former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows last week pegged the chances of Trump running again at better than 50-50.

“I’m feeling great about President Trump’s willingness to serve once again in the Oval Office,” he said.

Trump is making all the necessary preparations and is being encouraged by many people to try to become president for a second term, he added.