CNN announced Wednesday that it will host a June 4 live town hall in Iowa with former U.N. Ambassador and 2024 Republican presidential primary candidate Nikki Haley.
The news came two weeks after the network hosted a town hall with former President Donald Trump that left liberals fuming over how Trump took control of the event.
Anchor and chief Washington correspondent Jake Tapper will host the 8 p.m. ET event with Haley. Kaitlan Collins hosted the Trump town hall, which drew 3.3 million viewers.
Collins last week was named CNN's new prime-time anchor after the high-profile town hall with Trump.
Haley, a former South Carolina governor, was among the early entrants in a growing field of GOP contenders vying for the party's presidential nomination.
Shortly after Haley announced her campaign in February, then-CNN host Don Lemon came under fire after saying Haley "isn't in her prime" after she called for mental competency tests for politicians over 75.
Lemon no longer is with the network. He tweeted April 24 that he had been fired.
Iowa, with its caucuses early in the primary election calendar, can make or break a campaign's momentum. Thus, candidates usually spend a lot of time and money in the state.
The Real Clear Politics polling average showed Haley with 4.3% support, well behind Trump's leading 56.3%.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, expected to enter the race formally Wednesday, is in second place with an average of 19.4%.
Haley is portraying herself as an alternative to Trump and DeSantis. Ahead of DeSantis' announcement, Haley's campaign took aim at the GOP primary front-runners by rolling out a video titled "A choice, not an echo."
"I'm glad that he's going to be out there, because I want the American people to see who they're choosing from," Haley told The Hill last week.
South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott entered the Republican primary field on Monday.
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