President Trump is expected to nominate a former Fox News journalist to replace Nikki Haley.

Heather Nauert is to become U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, a White House official said Thursday.

Haley, a former Lexington resident and S.C. governor, plans to step down next month.

Nauert is the State Department's chief communications official.

4 other women were considered: US ambassador to Canada Kelly Craft; former White House official Dina Powell; US ambassador to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization Kay Bailey Hutchison; and Nancy Brinker, founder of the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation.

Nauert will have big shoes to fill. Haley was a forceful and outspoken critic of UN policies and a staunch defender of Israel. She has not yet annunced what she will do when she leaves the UN.

Republican insiders consider Haley a future presidential candidate.