American politician Nikki Haley: biography, personal life, career

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:47

The biography of Nikki Haley is one of the successful examples of the integration into American society of a family that arrived from a Third World country. Her family has Indian roots and professes an exotic faith even by the standards of India - Sikhism. Nimrata Randhawa, known as Nikki Haley, was born in Bamberg, South Carolina. In the family, she was always called Nikki. Her father, Ajit Singh Randhawa, and her mother, Raj Kaur Randhawa, emigrated from the Amritsar district, Punjab, India. Her father was once a professor at the Punjab Agricultural University and her mother received a law degree from the University of Delhi.

Early years

Hailey's parents moved to Canada after her father received a scholarship from the University of British Columbia. When her father received his Ph. D. in 1969, he moved his family to South Carolina, where he took a professorship at Voorhees College. Nikki's mother, Raj Randhawa, has a master's degree in education and has taught for seven years at public schools in Bamberg,before starting designing at Exotica International in 1976.

When Haley was five years old, her parents tried to send her to the Miss Bamberg pageant. Since so many African Americans lived in the city, the competition traditionally ended with the choice of a "black queen" and a "white queen". And since the judges decided that Haley did not fit into any of the categories, they disqualified her.

Nikki Haley has two brothers: Mitty, a retired US Army soldier, and Charan, a web designer. She also has a sister, Simran, who is a Canadian-born radio host and Tech graduate. Nikki Haley's personal life can be called prosperous: in the late 1990s, she fell in love with a white American military man, marrying him and taking his last name.

At the age of 12, Hailey started working at her mother's women's clothing store called Exotica International. She mainly did bookkeeping. In 1989, Nikki Haley graduated from Orangeburg Preparatory School. She later graduated from Clemson University with a BA in Accounting.

Career start

After graduating from Clemson University, Hailey worked for FCR Corporation, a waste management company, before joining her family's already sprawling business. She later became a manager at Exotica International and Chief Financial Officer.

In 1998, Hailey was elected to her hometown chamber of commerce. In 2003 she became treasurerNational Association of Women Entrepreneurs, and in 2004 she even headed this organization.

Governor of South Carolina

In 2004, Haley ran for the South Carolina House of Representatives to represent District 87 of Lexington County. She challenged incumbent State Representative Larry Kuhn in the Republican primary but did not win, finishing in second place. A few years later, she won the most votes in the election for the governor of South Carolina, becoming the first woman and the first Hindu in the history of the state to hold this position.

In 2006, she was not allowed to be re-elected for a second term. Haley won a third term in 2008, defeating her successor and Democratic predecessor, Edgar Gomez, 83%-17%.

August 12, 2013, Hailey announced that she would run for another term as governor. She faced a problem in the person of fellow party member Tom Ervin, who pushed her to the primaries. However, Erwin lost and later claimed that the 2014 gubernatorial election was rigged.

As in 2010, Vincent Cheyenne of the Democratic Party was again her opponent. Independent Republican Tom Ervin again entered the election at the very beginning, but lost to Libertarian Steve France and United Civic Party candidate Morgan Bruce Reeves. The first public debate was held in Charleston on October 14 between Erwin, Hayley,Reeves and Sheyenne. The second public debate in Greenville on October 21 again included all five candidates. A week after the second round, Erwin withdrew from the race and supported the candidacy of Scheyen.

Hailey was re-elected on November 4, 2014. Her second term as Governor of South Carolina was scheduled to expire on January 9, 2019, but she left her post on January 24, 2017, moving to the position of US Ambassador to the United Nations.

Presidential and vice presidential ambitions

In 2012, former Massachusetts governor and presidential candidate Mitt Romney asked her to be his running mate. In April 2012, she stated:

I said, "Thank you, but no, I made a promise to the people of this state." And I think that this promise matters - I intend to keep it.

American politician Nikki Haley was mentioned in January 2016 as a potential candidate for vice president in the upcoming US presidential election. The Economist magazine called her a politician with high approval ratings who possesses a combination of "fiscal brutality and a capacity for dialogue." On May 4, 2016, after Trump was elected as the Republican presidential nominee, Haley denied interest in the vice presidential nomination.

Complicated relationship with Trump

Haley was critical of Trump during the Republican primaries and was a supporter of Florida Senator Marco Rubio. When Rubio dropped out of the intra-party race, she supported another candidate - Ted Cruz,Senator from Texas. When Trump became the single Republican presidential candidate, she said she would vote for him, but she was not a fan of him.

Because Hailey has become the US Ambassador to the United Nations, several political scientists have speculated that she could become a possible future Republican presidential candidate and could well take the White House.

US Ambassador to the UN

On November 23, 2016, new US President Donald Trump announced his intention to appoint Haley to the post of Ambassador to the United Nations. On January 20, 2017, President Trump nominated Haley for confirmation in the United States Senate. The president reportedly initially offered Haley the position of secretary of state, which she turned down.

On January 24, 2017, Haley was confirmed by the Senate as United States Ambassador to the United Nations. The four senators who voted against Haley were Bernie Sanders, Martin Heinrich, Tom Udal, and Chris Kuuns. Hailey is the first Indian-American woman to hold such a major government position.