Nikki Haley

Nikki Haley
Nimarata Nikki Haley (née Randhawa; born January 20, 1972) is an American politician and diplomat who served as the 116th governor of South Carolina from 2011 to 2017, and as the 29th United States ambassador to the United Nations for two years, from January 2017 through December 2018.
Haley was born in Bamberg, South Carolina, and earned an accounting degree from Clemson University. She joined her family's clothing business before serving as treasurer and then president of the National Association of Women Business Owners. First elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives in 2004, she served three terms. In 2010, during her third term, she was elected governor of South Carolina and re-elected in 2014.
Haley resigned as governor to become U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, thereby joining the Trump administration in January 2017. She was confirmed by a bipartisan majority of 96–4 in the United States Senate. She stepped down as ambassador on December 31, 2018.
A member of the Republican Party, Haley is the first Indian American to serve in a presidential cabinet. Haley was the first female governor of South Carolina and the second governor of Indian descent (after fellow Republican Bobby Jindal of Louisiana).
Haley is a candidate in the 2024 Republican Party presidential primaries for president of the United States in the 2024 U.S. presidential election. She announced her campaign in February 2023.
Early life and education
Haley was born Nimarata Nikki Randhawa on January 20, 1972, at Bamberg County Hospital in Bamberg, South Carolina, to immigrant Punjabi Sikh parents. Her father, Ajit Singh Randhawa, and her mother, Raj Kaur Randhawa, immigrated to the United States from Amritsar, Punjab, India. Her father had been a professor at Punjab Agricultural University, and her mother received her law degree from the University of Delhi. Haley has been known by her middle name, Nikki, a Punjabi name meaning "little one", since her earliest years.
Haley's parents moved from India to Canada after her father received a scholarship offer from the University of British Columbia. When her father received his PhD in 1969, he moved his family to South Carolina to be a professor of biology at Voorhees College, a historically black institution.
Her mother, Raj Randhawa, earned a master's degree in education and taught for seven years in Bamberg public schools. In 1976 she started a popular women's clothing boutique, Exotica International. The store closed in 2008 upon her retirement 32 years after its founding.
At age 12, Haley began helping with the bookkeeping in her mother's clothing shop. In 1989, she graduated from the private Orangeburg Preparatory Schools. She graduated from Clemson University in 1994 with a BS degree in accounting.
First decade after college (1995–2004)
After graduating from college, Haley worked for FCR Corporation, a waste management and recycling company, before joining her family's clothing business as its bookkeeper and chief financial officer.
She married Michael Haley in 1996. She later became active in civic affairs. In 1998, she was named to the board of directors of the Orangeburg County Chamber of Commerce. She was named to the board of directors of the Lexington Chamber of Commerce in 2003. Haley became treasurer of the National Association of Women Business Owners in 2003, and president in 2004.
Haley chaired the Lexington Gala to raise funds for a local hospital. She also served on the Lexington Medical Foundation, Lexington County Sheriff's Foundation, and West Metro Republican Women. She was the president of the South Carolina Chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners, and was chair for the 2006 Friends of Scouting Leadership Division campaign.
South Carolina House of Representatives (2005–2011)
Election and re-election
In 2004, Haley ran for the South Carolina House of Representatives to represent District 87 in Lexington County. She challenged incumbent state representative Larry Koon in the Republican primary. He was the longest-serving legislator in the South Carolina Statehouse at the time. Her platform included property tax relief and education reform.
In the primary election, she forced a runoff as no candidate won a majority of the vote (Koon received 42% of the vote, and Haley 40%). In the runoff, she defeated him 55–45%. She ran unopposed in the general election.
Haley became the first Indian-American to hold office in South Carolina. She was unopposed for re-election to a second term in 2006. In 2008, she won re-election to a third term, defeating Democrat Edgar Gomez 83–17%.
In 2012, Haley would credit Hillary Clinton with inspiring her to run for office, stating in an interview that:"The reason I actually ran for office is because of Hillary Clinton... She said that when it comes to women running for office, there will be everybody that tells you why you shouldn't, but that's all the reasons why we need you to do it, and I walked out of there thinking, 'That's it. I'm running for office.
Legislative tenure and policies
Haley was elected chair of the freshman caucus in 2005 and majority whip in the South Carolina General Assembly. She was the only freshman legislator named to a whip spot at the time.
One of Haley's stated goals was to lower taxes. When Mark Sanford was governor of South Carolina, Haley voted against a proposed cigarette surtax. She voted for a bill that raised sales taxes from five cents per dollar to six cents per dollar. The bill exempted sales tax on unprepared food such as canned goods. The same bill also exempts property tax on "owner-occupied residential property" except for the taxes due from what is still owed on the property.
Haley implemented a plan in which teachers' salaries would be based on not only seniority and qualifications but also job performance, as determined by evaluations and reports from principals, students, and parents. She supports school choice and charter schools.
Haley supports barring legislators from collecting legislative pensions while in office. She believes such pensions should be based on only the $10,400 legislative salary instead of the salary plus lawmakers' $12,000 annual expense allowance.
Haley has stated that, as a daughter of immigrants, she believes the immigration laws should be enforced. She voted in favor of a law that requires employers to be able to prove that newly hired employees are legal residents of the United States, and also requires all immigrants to carry documentation at all times proving that they are legally in the United States. Haley signed an "Arizona-style" law in June 2011. Much of the act was blocked by the federal courts, which found several key provisions to be unconstitutional.Fourth Circuit Upholds Decision to Block Key Portions of SC Anti-Immigrant Law, ACLU of South Carolina (July 23, 2013).
Haley describes herself as pro-life and has supported legislation to restrict abortion. She has stated "I'm not pro-life because the Republican Party tells me, I'm pro-life because all of us have had experiences of what it means to have one of these special little ones in our life." In 2016, she re-signed a new state law that bans abortions at 20 weeks of pregnancy.
Haley has voted in favor of some bills relating to abortion that were tabled or rejected, including the Inclusion of Unborn Child/Fetus in Definition for Civil Suits Amendment, Prohibiting Employment Termination Due to Abortion Waiting Period amendment, and Exempting Cases of Rape from Abortion Waiting Period amendment. The latter would have allowed specific cases of women to not have to wait the mandatory 24 hours before having an abortion.
As a state legislator, her assignments included the Committee on Labor, Commerce and Industry, and the Committee on Medical, Military, Public and Municipal Affairs. She had several caucus memberships as well, including the Freshman Caucus, 2005–2006 (chair), the Sportsman's Caucus, and the Women's Caucus, 2007 (Vice Chair) She also served on the Lexington County Meth Taskforce.
Governor of South Carolina (2011–2017)
2010 gubernatorial election
On May 14, 2009, Haley announced that she would run for the Republican nomination for governor of South Carolina in the 2010 election. Haley had been persuaded to run by incumbent governor and fellow Republican Mark Sanford. She was endorsed by
former Massachusetts governor and Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney, as well as Jenny Sanford, the incumbent first lady of South Carolina. Haley has old ties to the Chicago businessman and the Republican Hindu Coalition founder Shalabh "Shalli" Kumar, who said in a 2016 interview that Haley's father Ajit Singh Randhawa "approached me in the summer of 2010 to support his daughter's campaign to run for governor of South Carolina." Kumar became her largest donor. She was polling in last place in the Republican race before a surprise endorsement from former Alaska governor Sarah Palin, three weeks before the primary vote.
The Republican gubernatorial primary took place on June 8, 2010, and Haley received 49% of the vote, forcing a runoff election on June 22. Haley won handily in the runoff vote.
Haley was elected governor on November 2, 2010, defeating Democratic candidate Vincent Sheheen, 51% to 47%. She is considered the third non-white governor elected by a Southern state, after Virginia's Douglas Wilder and Louisiana's Bobby Jindal.
2014 re-election
On August 12, 2013, Haley announced she would seek a second term as governor. She faced a challenge in the Republican primary from Tom Ervin, who later withdrew and later re-entered the 2014 gubernatorial campaign as an independent. As in 2010, Vincent Sheheen of the Democratic Party ran against Haley; Libertarian Steve French and United Citizens Party candidate Morgan Bruce Reeves also ran. The five candidates debated twice. A week after the second debate, Ervin withdrew from the race and endorsed Sheheen.
Haley was re-elected on November 4, 2014 by 14 percentage points, defeating Sheheen, 55.9 percent to 41.3 percent.
Tenure
Haley took office as governor in January 2011. In 2012, former governor Mitt Romney considered her for his vice-presidential running mate. Haley said that she would turn down any potential vice presidential offer.
During her second term, Haley feuded with veteran lawmakers in the General Assembly. She endorsed powerful senate finance chairman Hugh Leatherman's primary opponent in 2016. After winning the primary, Leatherman stated that Haley was not just a lame duck, but a "dead duck". Her second term as governor was set to expire on January 9, 2019; however, Haley resigned her position on January 24, 2017, to serve as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations.
Haley delivered the official Republican response to President Barack Obama's 2016 State of the Union Address on January 12, 2016.
In 2016, Haley was named by Time magazine as one of the 100 most influential people in the world.
Haley was mentioned in January 2016 as a potential candidate for vice presidency in the 2016 presidential election. On May 4, 2016, after Trump became the presumptive presidential nominee, Haley said she had no interest in the vice presidential nomination.
Four lieutenant governors served under Haley. Haley, a Republican, welcomed Yancey McGill, a Democrat, to serve as her lieutenant governor after Glenn F. McConnell's resignation. Haley was initially against having a Democrat serve as the second-in-command to the governor, but she, along with the Senate, eventually acquiesced.
On December 17, 2012, Haley announced she would appoint Tim Scott to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Senator Jim DeMint, who previously announced that he would retire from the Senate to become the president of the Heritage Foundation. Following his appointment, Scott became the first African American U.S. senator from South Carolina.
Haley chose Scott over others on her short list, including Representative Trey Gowdy, former South Carolina attorney general Henry McMaster, former First Lady of South Carolina Jenny Sanford, and South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control Director Catherine Templeton.
In July 2013, Haley was fined $3,500 by the State Ethics Commission and given a "public warning" for failing to report the addresses of eight donors during her 2010 campaign for governor.
In August 2013, Haley signed an extradition order for Dusten Brown to be brought to South Carolina in the Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl case.
Gubernatorial policies
Upon becoming governor, Haley appointed Bobby Hitt as the state's secretary of commerce. In her State of the State address and other speeches, she touted South Carolina's economic growth and low unemployment rate, and urged businesses to move to the state based on a low cost of doing business, "a loyal, willing workforce," and South Carolina's status as "one of the lowest union-participation states in the country."
Before June 2015, Haley supported flying the Confederate flag on the statehouse grounds. In the immediate aftermath of the Charleston church shooting, Haley did not take a position on removing the flag, saying, "I think the state will start talking about that again, and we'll see where it goes." On June 22, Haley called for the removal of the Confederate flag from the statehouse grounds. She stated:
"These grounds [the State Capital] are a place that everybody should feel a part of. What I realized now more than ever is people were driving by and felt hurt and pain. No one should feel pain." Haley also said, "There is a place for that flag", but she added, "It's not in a place that represents all people in South Carolina."
In July 2015, Haley signed a bill to authorize removing the Confederate flag from the flagpole on the grounds of the South Carolina Capitol. In December 2019, she defended the people of South Carolina, saying that "some people" in South Carolina saw the flag as a representation of "service and sacrifice and heritage" before the flag was hijacked by the white supremacist mass killer Dylann Roof. In regard to the state trial of Roof, Haley urged prosecutors to seek the death penalty against him.
In April 2016, Haley indicated she would not support an anti-trans "bathroom bill" introduced by the South Carolina State Senate that would require transgender individuals to use restrooms based on their gender assigned at birth. Haley said that the legislation was unnecessary and would not solve any identifiable problem in the state.
In 2021, Haley spoke against Executive Order 13988, officially titled Preventing and Combating Discrimination on the Basis of Gender Identity or Sexual Orientation.
Haley has been described by South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham as a "strong supporter of the State of Israel". As governor, she signed a anti-BDS law to stop efforts of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement. This legislation was the first of its kind on a statewide level. Haley also stated that "nowhere has the UN's failure been more consistent and more outrageous than in its bias against our close ally Israel".
Haley supports voter photo ID laws.
Veto record
During her 2011–2017 gubernatorial term, Haley vetoed 50 bills, 24 (48%) of which were overridden by the state legislature.
United States ambassador to the United Nations (2017–2018)
Nomination and confirmation
On November 23, 2016, then President-elect Donald Trump announced his intention to nominate Haley for ambassador to the United Nations. Upon taking office on January 20, 2017, Trump sent Haley's nomination to the United States Senate. She was confirmed two days later on a 96–4 vote; the four senators who voted against Haley were independent Bernie Sanders (Vermont) and Democrats Martin Heinrich (New Mexico), Tom Udall (New Mexico), and Chris Coons (Delaware) Trump reportedly considered Haley for the position of secretary of state, which she declined. Haley was the first Indian American to hold a Cabinet-level position. Immediately following her confirmation by the U.S. Senate, Haley resigned as South Carolina governor, and Lt. Governor Henry McMaster became governor.
Haley was sworn in by Vice President Mike Pence on January 25, 2017. She met with United Nations secretary-general António Guterres on January 27, 2017, at the UN Headquarters in New York City. She replaced Ambassador Samantha Power.
Tenure
Defining aspects of Haley's tenure as U.S. ambassador include her consistently strong advocacy for Israel,Ali Harb, Nikki Haley's Israel advocacy defined her tenure at UN: Advocates, Al Jazeera (February 2, 2023).5 Things to Know About Nikki Haley, New York Times (February 14, 2023). her defense of the Trump administration's 2018 withdrawal of the U.S. from the Iran nuclear deal, and her withdrawal of the U.S. from the United Nations Human Rights Council (a move reversed under the Biden administration, when the U.S. rejoined the council). She defended the Trump administration's decision to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris climate agreement (a move also later reversed, as the Biden administration reentered the agreement). As ambassador, Haley sometimes took positions at odds from the Trump White House; she announced that the U.S. would impose new sanctions on Russia and on the Bashar al-Assad regime in Syria, but new sanctions were blocked by the White House.
Russia and Syria
In 2017, Haley declared to the U.N. Security Council that sanctions against Russia for its Crimean conflict would not be lifted until Russia returned control over the region to Ukraine. Later that year, Haley said the U.S. would retain "strong and tough" sanctions against Russia due to its actions in Ukraine.
On March 30, 2017, Haley stated that the U.S. would no longer focus on forcing Syrian president Bashar al-Assad to leave power. This was a policy shift from former president Barack Obama's initial stance on Assad. On April 5, speaking to the U.N. Security Council a day after the Khan Shaykhun chemical attack, Haley said Russia, Assad, and Iran "have no interest in peace" and attacks similar to this would continue occurring should nothing be done in response. A day later, the U.S. launched 59 Tomahawk cruise missiles toward the Shayrat Air Base in Syria. Haley called the strike a "very measured step" and warned that the U.S. was prepared "to do more" despite wishing it would not be required. On April 12, after Russia blocked a draft resolution meant to condemn the Khan Shaykhun chemical attack, Haley criticized Russia, saying "We need to see Russia choose to side with the civilized world over an Assad government that brutally terrorizes its own people." June 28, while appearing before the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs, Haley credited President Trump's warning to Syria with stopping another chemical attack: "I can tell you due to the president's actions, we did not see an incident."
In April 2017, Haley spoke out against Ramzan Kadyrov amid the murders and persecution of gay men in Chechnya, which is part of the Russian Federation. She stated that "We continue to be disturbed by reports of kidnapping, torture, and murder of people in Chechnya based on their sexual orientation ... this violation of human rights cannot be ignored".
Iran
In April 2017, while holding her first session as president of the UN Security Council, Haley charged Iran and Hezbollah with having "conducted terrorist acts" for decades within the Middle East.
In September 2017, Haley stated that "some countries" (a reference to Russia, although Haley did not refer to Russia by name) were shielding Iran by blocking the International Atomic Energy Agency from verifying Iranian compliance with the international nuclear agreement with Iran. Haley said that it "appears that some countries are attempting to shield Iran from even more inspections. Without inspections, the Iran deal is an empty promise."
Also in December 2017, Haley accused Iran of backing the Houthi rebels in the Yemeni Civil War, in which the Houthis were fighting the Saudi-backed Hadi government. She said that the "fight against Iranian aggression is the world's fight." Iranian officials denied the accusations, saying that they "seek also to cover up for the Saudi war crimes in Yemen, with the US complicity, and divert attention from the stalemate war of aggression against the Yemenis." Iran likened Haley's presentation to that of then-Secretary of State Colin Powell, before the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Haley also said that "It's hard to find a conflict or terrorist group in the Middle East that doesn't have Iran's fingerprints all over it", but she did not mention the U.S. role in Saudi-led intervention in Yemen and Saudi-led coalition's blockade of Yemen.
Comments on Muslim ban
On March 15, 2017, Haley said she would not support a ban on Muslim immigration to the United States should President Trump choose to enact one. Haley said she did not believe "we should ever ban anyone based on their religion" and that a Muslim ban would be "un-American".
North Korea
Haley said the U.S. military could be deployed in response to any further North Korean missile tests or usage of nuclear missiles and that she believed Kim Jong-un understood this due to pressure by both the U.S. and China. On May 14, 2017, after North Korea performed a ballistic missile test, Haley said Kim was "in a state of paranoia" after feeling pressure from the U.S. On June 2, 2017, after the U.N. Security Council approved a resolution adding fifteen North Koreans and four entities linked to North Korea's nuclear and missile programs to a sanctions blacklist, Haley said the council's vote was "sending a clear message to North Korea today: Stop firing ballistic missiles or face the consequences". On July 5, 2017, during a U.N. Security Council meeting, in response to North Korea launching an intercontinental ballistic missile, Haley announced the US would within days "bring before the Security Council a resolution that raises the international response in a way that is proportionate to North Korea's new escalation". The following month the U.N. Security Council unanimously approved sanctions on North Korea banning exports worth over $1 billion. Haley said that the sanctions package was "the single largest ... ever leveled against the North Korean regime".
Israel and Israeli-Palestinian conflict
As U.S. ambassador, Haley established herself as a consistent advocate for Israel.
In a May 2017 interview, Haley expressed interest in moving the U.S. embassy to Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. She said the U.N. had "bullied Israel for a very long time" and pledged the US would end this treatment while in Jerusalem. In response to a December 2017 General Assembly Resolution ES-10/19 (an Egyptian-sponsored resolution to void any unilateral decisions on Jerusalem's status and demand that countries "refrain from the establishment of diplomatic missions in the holy city"), Haley warned UN members that she would be "taking names" of countries that voted to reject Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and move the U.S. embassy there, writing: "As you consider your vote, I encourage you to know the president and the US take this vote personally. The president will be watching this vote carefully and has requested I report back on those who voted against us." The resolution passed with 128 in favor, 9 against, and 35 abstaining. Haley traveled to some countries that voted "No" (such as Guatemala and Honduras) and thanked them for their support in the emergency special session. The U.S. moved its embassy to Jerusalem in 2018; in her later memoirs, Haley said that a faction within the Trump administration, led by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, strongly opposed the decision to move the embassy.
In 2017, Haley blocked the appointment of Salam Fayyad, a Palestinian, as UN envoy to Libya, saying that "The United States does not currently recognize a Palestinian state or support the signal this appointment would send within the United Nations." However, the same year—one day after Trump had suggested he might be open to a one-state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict—Haley reaffirmed that U.S. policy was to "absolutely support a two-state solution" to the conflict.
In July 2017, after the UNESCO voted to designate the Hebron's Old City and the Cave of the Patriarchs as Palestinian territory as well as endangered World Heritage Sites, Haley called the choice "tragic on several levels" in a statement (see Israeli–Palestinian conflict in Hebron).
In January 2018, she supported President Trump's withholding humanitarian aid to Palestinians through the U.N. Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).
Rohingya persecution in Myanmar
In September 2017, Haley said that her government was "deeply troubled" by reports of atrocities against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar. Haley criticized Myanmar's civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi for justifying the imprisonment of the two Reuters journalists (Wa Lone and Kyaw Soe Oo) who reported on the ethnic cleansing and other atrocities perpetrated by the government.
Hatch Act
In October 2017, the federal Office of Special Counsel determined that Haley had violated the federal Hatch Act in June 2017 by re-tweeting Trump's endorsement of Ralph Norman, a Republican candidate for Congress in South Carolina. Haley deleted the re-tweet after a complaint was filed by the government watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. The Office of Special Counsel issued a reprimand by letter but did not recommend any further action be taken against Haley. The special counsel's letter warned Haley that any future violation could be considered "a willful and knowing violation of the law".
Capital punishment resolution
In October 2017, the U.S., along with 13 other nations, voted against a U.N. Human Rights Council resolution that condemned the use of capital punishment when "applied arbitrarily or in a discriminatory manner" and specifically condemned "the imposition of the death penalty as a sanction for specific forms of conduct, such as apostasy, blasphemy, adultery and consensual same-sex relations". LGBTQ rights advocates in the U.S., including the Human Rights Campaign, were critical of the vote. After the vote, a State Department spokeswoman said that the U.S. voted against the resolution "because of broader concerns with the resolution's approach in condemning the death penalty in all circumstances" and said that the U.S. "unequivocally condemns the application of the death penalty for conduct such as homosexuality, blasphemy, adultery, and apostasy. We do not consider such conduct appropriate for criminalization."
Comments on Trump sexual abuse allegations
In December 2017, Haley said that the women who had accused President Trump of touching or groping them without their consent "should be heard".
Withdrawal of U.S. from Human Rights Council
On June 19, 2018, Haley and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the U.S. was pulling out of the United Nations Human Rights Council, accusing the council of being "hypocritical and self-serving"; in the past, Haley had accused it of "chronic anti-Israel bias". "When the Human Rights Council treats Israel worse than North Korea, Iran, and Syria, it is the Council itself that is foolish and unworthy of its name. It is time for the countries who know better to demand changes", Haley said in a statement at the time, pointing to the council's adoption of five resolutions condemning Israel.
China
In October 2018, Haley raised the issue of China's re-education camps and human rights abuses against the Uyghur Muslim minority. She said that "At least a million Uighurs and other Muslim minorities have been imprisoned in so-called 're-education camps' in western China", and detainees are "tortured ... forced to renounce their religion and to pledge allegiance to the Communist Party".
Resignation
On October 9, 2018, she resigned as the U.N. ambassador, effective December 31, 2018. Haley's resignation was announced one day after an anti-corruption watchdog group Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington accused Haley of accepting seven luxury private plane trips as gifts from South Carolina business leaders. The group was the first to break this story after requesting an Inspector General investigation. Haley listed these seven flights as gifts on a 2018 financial disclosure, claiming that they are exempt from ethics violations as they were gifted by personal contacts. A spokesperson for CREW said they have no reason to believe that this was related to her resignation as ambassador.
Haley was succeeded in the post by Kelly Craft.
Post-United Nations interlude (2019–2022)
In 2019, Haley created a new 501(c)(4) advocacy group, Stand for America. Stand for America did not disclose its donors, but a document subsequently obtained by the press showed that it raised $71 million in 2019 from several billionaires and well-known Republican Party megadonors, including Paul Singer, Stanley Druckenmiller, and Sheldon and Miriam Adelson, and Scott Bessent. Haley's team unsuccessfully demanded that Politico not report on the donor list it had obtained.
In February 2019, Haley was nominated to the board of directors of Boeing; she was elected at the annual shareholder meeting in April 2019. Haley had previously fought a unionization effort at Boeing South Carolina plant in North Charleston, where the 787 Dreamliner is produced. She supported a 2009 economic development package, valued at up to $900 million, to incentivize Boeing to relocate the 787 Dreamliner production facility in this city, and, as governor, approved an additional $120 million to Boeing for its expansion. Boeing board members earn at least $315,000 a year (as of 2017, the most recent figures available). In March 2020, Haley resigned from Boeing's board of directors, saying she disagreed with the company's decision to request federal stimulus or bailout funds during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2019, Trump denied rumors that he had sought to replace Vice President Mike Pence with Haley as his running mate in the 2020 U.S. presidential election.
She supported Trump's January 2020 killing of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani. In a Fox News appearance and a later tweet, Haley falsely claimed that Democrats were "mourning the loss of Soleimani".
In early 2021, Haley created a PAC to endorse and support candidates in the 2022 midterm elections. She hired former NRSC political director Betsy Ankney to be the executive director.
In October 2021, Haley was selected to replace David Wilkins for a lifetime position on the Clemson University Board of Trustees.
Relationship with Donald Trump
During the 2016 Republican presidential primaries Haley supported and campaigned for U.S. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida.
Haley received extensive press coverage for saying the phrase "bless your heart" in response to an attack by presidential candidate Donald Trump. Trump had attacked her on Twitter after her call for him to release his tax records.
Haley was critical of Trump during the election. She stated of Trump in 2016: "I will not stop until we fight a man that chooses not to disavow the KKK. That is not a part of our party. That's not who we want as president. We will not allow that in our country." When Rubio dropped out of the election, she then supported candidate Ted Cruz.
In June 2016, on a one-year anniversary of the Emanuel AME Church shooting, Haley also warned Trump's rhetoric could lead to violent tragedy.
In October 2016, Haley said she would vote for Trump and endorsed him as "the best person based on the policies, and dealing with things like Obamacare"; at the same time, she described herself as "not a fan" of Trump.
Since her resignation as UN ambassador in December 2018, she remained supportive of the Trump administration and described him as a "friend". She has stated that she was "proud of the successes of the administration" and "I'm not going to apologize" for working with Trump. She said of Trump since his election loss against Joe Biden saying, "I understand the president. I understand that genuinely, to his core, he believes he was wronged, this is not him making it up."
She described Trump's actions around the 2021 storming of the United States Capitol as "not his finest", but opposed Trump's second impeachment, criticizing Democrats and journalists on Fox News's The Ingraham Angle with Laura Ingraham. In that January 25 television interview, she also declared that she would vote against impeachment, and that "They will bring about impeachment, yet they say they are for unity. They beat him up before he got into office. They are beating him up after he leaves office. At some point, give the man a break. I mean, move on". However, in an interview given on January 12, 2021, but published a month later, while Trump's second impeachment trial was underway on charges he had incited the January 6 attack, Haley said, "We need to acknowledge he let us down. He went down a path he shouldn't have, and we shouldn't have followed him, and we shouldn't have listened to him. And we can't let that ever happen again." According to Politico in February 2021, Haley reportedly reached out to former President Trump to request a sit-down meeting at Mar-a-Lago. Trump reportedly declined the request.
When asked whether Trump is a friend, she stated that "Friend is a loose term." She has been critical of Trump's role during the 2021 storming of the United States Capitol, saying that she was angry that Donald Trump took no action to protect Vice President Pence, adding, "When I tell you I'm angry, it's an understatement."
In an op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal in February 2021, Haley wrote: "Most of Mr. Trump's major policies were outstanding and made America stronger, safer and more prosperous. Many of his actions since the election were wrong and will be judged harshly by history...I will gladly defend the bulk of the Trump record and his determination to shake up the corrupt status quo in Washington."
Haley has repeatedly said that she would support Trump in 2024 if he received the Republican nomination, even if he is convicted of criminal charges. She has, however, expressed her view that Trump cannot win a general election; in a September 2023 appearance on Face the Nation, Haley said that she would "always" support the Republican nominee but added that "The American people are not going to vote for a convicted criminal."
Presidential campaign (2023–present)
In July 2022, Haley hinted at a run for president in the 2024 U.S. presidential election at a Christians United for Israel summit in Washington, D.C., suggesting that she would "shred" any sort of Iran nuclear deal "on her first day in office." On February 14, 2023, she formally announced her candidacy, becoming the second major candidate to announce a run for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, after Trump, who had already announced his own campaign. Haley had previously said that she would not run if Trump also sought the nomination.
Haley is the fifth woman, and the first woman of color, to be a major candidate for the Republican presidential nomination.
Haley was seen as a contender for the Republican nomination. In late October 2023, she was polling at about 8.3% in national Republican primary opinion polls, third to Trump and Ron DeSantis. She received endorsements from two congressmen—House Freedom Caucus member Ralph Norman and former 2024 Republican presidential candidate Will Hurd. Cindy Warmbier, mother of Otto Warmbier, also endorsed Haley's bid.
Positions and policies during presidential campaign
In February 2023, Haley supported a proposal from Senator Lindsey Graham to establish a national 15-week abortion ban, with exceptions for rape, incest, health, and life of the mother arguing that this proposal stood a chance at gaining a "national consensus." In May 2023, Haley pledged to sign a federal abortion ban, without specifying how many weeks such a ban should cover. In an August 2023 primary debate, Haley refused to directly say whether she supported a federal abortion ban. She supports promoting access to contraception.
Haley said that the Florida Parental Rights in Education Act, known as the "Don't Say Gay" law, does not go far enough, in that prohibitions against discussing sex and sexuality before third grade should be subject to opt-in parental consent, and suggesting they should be extended until seventh grade. Haley has said she supports "freedom" regarding same-sex marriage, but has depicted the participation of trans women in women's sports as a threat to the ability of cisgender women to compete in women's categories.
Haley was the third candidate (the first two being Donald J. Trump and Vivek Ramaswamy) to sign a placard circulated by the Concerned Women for America that stated "only women can be pregnant and bear children". The placard also called for federal agencies to "uphold" the concept of binary sex "in every policy and program," although it stopped short of claiming pregnancy as a precondition for womanhood.
Nikki Haley has a positive relationship with Caitlyn Jenner, and the two held a meeting at the UN in 2017 while Haley was US ambassador to discuss "global LGBT issues". In 2021, when a far-right commentator on social media mocked her friendship with a trans woman, Haley responded that "Caitlin came to see me at the UN and I appreciated her conservative views". Haley also rebuked actor Dean Cain who had laughed at the post, tweeting "I don't find it funny."
On fiscal policy, Haley indicated that she would be willing to make significant budget cuts, including to Medicare and Social Security. She has called for raising the retirement age for future Social Security and Medicare beneficiaries (without identifying a specific age) and supports means-testing the programs. She criticized both the pandemic relief act enacted by Democrats in 2021, as well as the initial pandemic relief act enacted by Republicans and signed by Trump in March 2020.
As a candidate, Haley took an ambivalent stance toward Trump, implicitly critiquing him (for example, by calling for a "new generation" of leadership) but generally avoiding direct criticism of him. In speeches and interviews, she attempted to appeal to both Reaganite Republicans, who dominated the party in the past, and Trumpist Republicans, who dominated the party in the 2020s. Haley has said she "would be inclined" to grant a pardon to Trump, who has been indicted on various criminal charges, saying a pardon would be "good for the country." She denounced the criminal charges against Trump in New York (asserting that the prosecution was "political") but equivocated on the indictment of Trump for keeping classified documents, simultaneously calling Trump "incredibly reckless with our national security" but deeming the prosecution an "overreach" and "vendetta." During a debate in August 2023, she said she would support Trump as the Republican nominee even if he was convicted of crimes.
Haley has acknowledged that climate change is caused by human activity, but has rejected policies to decrease greenhouse gas emissions. She pledged, if elected, to again withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Agreement, revoke regulations restricting fossil fuel production and curtailing pollution from power plants and vehicles, and eliminate renewable energy subsidies. She criticized the Biden administration's decision to allocate funds appropriated by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Deal to create a national electric vehicle charging network.
In a February 2023 op-ed published by the New York Post, Haley vowed to "cut every cent in foreign aid for countries" that she deemed "enemies" of the United States. In June 2023, Haley attacked both Trump and DeSantis for their positions regarding the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine. She said that Biden had not done enough on Ukraine, but did not detail what she would do differently if elected president.
In February 2023, Haley announced that she supports congressional term limits and "mandatory mental competence tests for politicians over 75 years old", which received mixed feedback from U.S. Senators.
Personal life
In September 1996, Nikki Randhawa married Michael Haley. They celebrated with both Sikh and Methodist ceremonies. The couple have two children, a daughter and a son.
Haley converted to Christianity in 1997. She and her husband regularly attend the United Methodist Church. She also attends Sikh services once or twice a year. She visited the Harmandir Sahib with her husband in 2014 during her visit to India. During a Christianity Today interview, when asked whether or not she hopes her parents convert to Christianity, Haley responded, "What I hope is that my parents do what's right for them."
Her husband, an officer in the South Carolina Army National Guard, had a tour of duty in Afghanistan in 2013.
Haley and her family reside in Kiawah Island, South Carolina near the city of Charleston.
Haley has an estimated net worth of $8 million.
Books
Can't Is Not an Option: My American Story, Sentinel, New York (2012).
With All Due Respect: Defending America with Grit and Grace, St. Martin's Press, New York (2019).
A Better Blueprint for International Organizations: Advancing American Interests on the Global Stage, Foundation for Defense of Democracies, (2021)
If You Want Something Done: Leadership Lessons from Bold Women, St. Martin's Press, New York (2022).
Awards and honors
Haley was inducted into the Order of the Palmetto in 2010. She has two honorary degrees: a Doctorate of Humanities from Clemson University (2018) and a Doctorate of Public Service from the University of South Carolina (2015). In 2013, Haley received an honorary 4th-dan black belt in Taekwondo.
She has also received awards from India Abroad, the International Republican Institute, Christians United for Israel, the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, the Hudson Institute, the Independent Women's Forum, UN Watch, the Simon Wiesenthal Center, the American Enterprise Institute, and the World Jewish Congress.
Electoral history
See also
Indian Americans in New York City
List of female governors in the United States
List of governors of South Carolina
List of minority governors and lieutenant governors in the United States
References
External links
Announcement of presidential candidacy, via Twitter video, 14 Feb. 2023
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