About Nikki Haley
The Nimarata On January 20, 1972, Nikki Haley—previously known as Nimarata Randhawa—was born. From 2011 to 2017, she, an American politician and diplomat, created history as the 116th governor of South Carolina. She became the 29th American ambassador to the UN after serving as governor, a position she held from January 2017 until December 2018. Haley was the first Indian American to hold a cabinet position in the United States government. She is a Republican. She is now a contender in the Republican Party’s 2024 presidential primary.
Haley worked at her family’s clothing company before entering the political sphere. Later, she was involved in several business associations, finally rising to the position of National Association of Women Business Owners president after serving as treasurer. She made her political debut in 2004 when she was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives, a position she held for three terms. In 2010, she created history once more when she was elected as the first female governor of South Carolina and the second governor of Indian heritage in the United States, after Bobby Jindal of Louisiana. Her leadership during the shooting at the Charleston church in 2015 attracted national notice.
When Nikki Haley stepped down as governor in January 2017 to take on the position of US ambassador to the UN in President Trump’s administration, her political career took yet another turn. By a vote of 96–4, the U.S. Senate overwhelmingly confirmed her. On December 31, 2018, her term as an ambassador came to an end.
Nikki Haley announced her bid for the presidency of the United States in February 2023. She became one of Donald Trump’s primary opponents in the Republican primary after the Iowa caucuses.
Nikki Haley Early life and education
At Bamberg County Hospital in Bamberg, South Carolina, Nimarata Nikki Randhawa, the original name of Nimarata Nikki Haley, came into the world. Her parents immigrated to Amritsar, Punjab, India, as Sikhs. Her mother, Raj Kaur Randhawa, obtained her legal degree from the University of Delhi, while her father, Ajit Singh Randhawa, was employed as a professor at Punjab Agricultural University.
After Ajit was offered a scholarship by the University of British Columbia, the family relocated to Canada in 1964, marking the start of their journey. After completing his PhD in 1969, they moved to South Carolina, where Ajit started teaching biology at Voorhees College, a historically black college in Denmark. In 1998, he announced his retirement. Raj, however, chose to become a teacher and completed a master’s program before working for seven years as a public school teacher in Bamberg. She made her business debut in 1976 when she opened the prosperous women’s clothing store Exotica International in West Columbia. Nikki Haley started helping with the shop’s bookkeeping when she was just 12 years old. The family opened a store called The Gentlemen’s Quarters, which catered to men, later in 1993 as part of their business expansion. Following Raj’s retirement in 2008, both locations closed.
Haley has two brothers and a sister as siblings. She graduated in 1989 from Orangeburg Preparatory Schools. She continued her studies at Clemson University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting and finance in 1994. Since birth, Nikki—a Punjabi name meaning “little one”—has been her favorite name.
Career
Nikki Haley started working for FCR Corporation, a waste management and recycling company, after graduating from college. She eventually made the switch to working with her family in their garment company, where she assumed the positions of chief financial officer and bookkeeper.
Following her marriage to Michael Haley in 1996, Haley’s interest in local matters grew. In 1998, she was appointed to the Orangeburg County Chamber of Commerce board of directors. In 2003, she joined the Lexington Chamber of Commerce board of directors. Haley also joined the National Association of Women Business Owners in 2003 as treasurer, rising to the position of president in 2004.
By serving as the chair of occasions like the Lexington Gala, which raised money for a nearby hospital, Nikki Haley actively gave back to her community. In addition, she held positions on a number of boards, such as West Metro Republican Women, Lexington Medical Foundation, and Lexington County Sheriff’s Foundation. In addition, she served as head of the 2006 Friends of Scouting Leadership Division campaign and president of the National Association of Women Business Owners’ South Carolina Chapter.
Presidential campaign (2023–present)
Nikki Haley hinted at a potential presidential bid in the United States in 2024 during a July 2022 speech in Washington, D.C. at a Christians United for Israel event. She pledged to “shred” any prospective nuclear agreement with Iran on her first day in office, making it plain that she would take a firm stand on the matter. Then, on February 14, 2023, she made her formal candidacy known. This made her the second prominent contender to enter the race for the Republican presidential nomination in 2024, after Trump, who had already announced his own campaign. Haley had earlier declared that if Trump entered the race, she would not run.
Nikki Haley’s campaign signaled a turning point in American politics. She emerged as a formidable contender for the Republican presidential nomination, becoming the fifth woman and the first of color to hold that position.
Nikki Haley was regarded as a strong candidate for the Republican nomination during her entire campaign. She was lagging Trump and Ron DeSantis in national Republican primary opinion polls by late October 2023, with a polling percentage of about 8.3%. Prominent individuals like Will Hurd and Ralph Norman, two U.S. representatives, as well as Otto Warmbier’s mother Cindy, endorsed her. Furthermore, in November 2023, Americans for Prosperity Action—a group associated with the Koch network—endorsed Haley.
CNN reported at the beginning of January 2024 that Haley was only a few points behind Trump in the New Hampshire survey.
Haley received 19% of the vote in the January 15, 2024, Iowa caucuses, placing her in third place behind Trump (51%), DeSantis (21%), and Haley (19%). Notably, Haley edged Trump in Johnson County by one vote.
But on January 19, Tim Scott, a U.S. senator and past presidential contender, endorsed Trump for president, igniting a heated debate in the media about his choice to support Trump against Haley, who had nominated Scott to the Senate.
Personal Life
On September 7, 1996, Haley and Michael Haley got married. They held Methodist and Sikh ceremonies to commemorate their union. Two daughters, Rena (born in 1998) and Nalin (born in 2001), are a blessing for the couple.
Haley converted to Christianity in 1997. Though Haley occasionally attends Sikh ceremonies, she and her spouse are regular members of the United Methodist Church. She and her spouse traveled to India in 2014 to see the Harmandir Sahib. In an interview with Christianity Today, Haley said she hoped her parents would follow their own intuition when it came to becoming Christians.
After serving a tour of duty in Afghanistan in 2013, Michael Haley is an officer in the South Carolina Army National Guard.
The Haley family lives close to Charleston, South Carolina, on Kiawah Island.
Haley’s estimated net worth in terms of money was $1 million in 2019. But by 2022, her net worth had skyrocketed to an estimated $8 million, thanks in part to the money she made from her book sales and her membership in the corporate boards of United Homes and Boeing. (Want to know about nikki haley net worth please click www.senaterace24.com)