WASHINGTON — Another woman jumped into the 2016 presidential race on Monday, this time on the Republican side, as former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina announced her candidacy — and began to position herself as an alternative to Hillary Clinton.
“Yes, I am running for president,” Fiorina said on ABC’s Good Morning America. “I think I’m the best person for the job because I understand how the economy actually works.”
Fiorina was named the most powerful woman in American business by Fortune magazine in 1998, while she was still an executive at Lucent; she remained on the list while she was running H-P from 1999 to 2005.
The fact that Fiorina is female has garnered as much attention as her track record in business.
“I absolutely think it is wonderful to see women candidates running for president of the United States,” said Lisa Nelson, CEO of the American Legislative Exchange Council. “I think if Carly Fiorina is the Republican nominee, she will carry the base, she will carry the independents, and she will carry the women’s vote. Because (there are) a lot of women who just don’t think they can trust Hillary Clinton.”
Rich Lowry, the editor at National Review magazine, called Fiorina a “talented communicator.”
“Hillary obviously is in a dominate position in Democratic Party and Carly is going to have to do some climbing to get to the top of the Republican field,” Lowry said, but he added Fiorina “is going to surprise us. ”
For her part, Fiorina said Hillary Clinton “clearly is not trustworthy.”
On Saturday, speaking at the National Review Institute Ideas Summit in Washington, D.C., Fiorina said: “It is going to be a fight in 2016. Hillary Clinton may be a vulnerable candidate in many ways, but we should not underestimate her.”
She said in the 2012 presidential campaign, “we all thought Benghazi was going to be an issue and it wasn’t. It wasn’t an issue because our nominee wouldn’t throw the punch.”
“I promise you,” Fiorina continued. “If I were the nominee, I will not falter, and I will land every punch and on the ground where she has to explain her transparency, her policies, (and) her track record. Ladies and gentlemen, on that ground we can win this fight.”
The first female CEO of a Fortune 20 company, Fiorina was forced to resign from H-P in 2005, after leading a controversial merger with rival computer company Compaq. More than 30,000 people were laid off during her time at H-P.
Still, Fiorina still believes her experience as a technology company CEO will help her win the White House.
“I understand technology, which is a tool both to reimage government and to re-engage citizens in the process of government,” said Fiorina on Monday morning. “And I understand executive decision-making, which is making a tough call in a tough time with high stakes for which you’re prepared to be held accountable.”
Fiorina has never worked in government, though she was an adviser to both John McCain’s presidential campaign in 2008 and Mitt Romney’s campaign in 2012.
She also ran an unsuccessful campaign in 2010 for the California Senate, losing to incumbent Democrat Sen. Barbara Boxer.
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