Former Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina said on Sunday that she will likely seek the Republican nomination for president in 2016.
During an interview on "Fox News Sunday," Fiorina said there is a "higher than 90 percent" chance that she will run for president and make an announcement in late April or early May.
Fiorina, who has said that President Barack Obama does not deserve credit for boosting the economy, touted her executive experience in the private sector as what will set her apart from the rest of the GOP field.
"I have a deep understanding of how the economy works, having started as a secretary and become the executive of the largest technology company in the world," she said. Fiorina also cited her understanding of technology, world leaders and how to deal with a bureaucracy as factors that would support her candidacy.
Fiorina also defended her tenure at HP when "Fox News Sunday" host Chris Wallace suggested that opponents would paint her as an "unfeeling multi-millionaire," pointing to the fact that she laid off 30,000 employees, replaced some of them with workers in India and China, and received a payout of tens of millions of dollars after being ousted by the company.
"I think you're reading the Democratic talking points because it was not all American jobs, but of course, laying people off is the last resort. It's a terrible thing to have to do," she said. "But when you are managing through the worst technology recession in 25 years, sometimes there are tough calls that need to be made for the overall health of the enterprise and, in the end, we took a company that was really struggling and turned it into an exceedingly successful company where overall jobs grew."
So far, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is the only major candidate to officially declare that he is seeking the presidency. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) are both eyeing announcements next month.
According to HuffPost Pollster, which aggregates publicly available polling data, 3.2 percent of voters would back Fiorina in the GOP primary.
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