Her steep political rise continues

Washington, November 23

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Nikki Haley’s elevation as top US diplomat at the UN shows her steep political rise that began six years ago when the daughter of Indian immigrants was elected as South Carolina’s first woman and minority governor.

Born Nimrata “Nikki” Randhawa, Haley (44) brings both racial and gender diversity to Trump’s appointments, which so far have uniformly consisted of white males. Haley, who is in her second and final term as governor, was elected in 2010, riding the wave of the Republican Tea Party with the support of Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. Her re-election win in 2014 also marked the largest margin of victory for a South Carolina gubernatorial candidate in 24 years.

Prior to becoming the state’s chief executive, she served six years as a member of the state’s House of Representatives. Haley was critical of Trump during the primary campaign and had backed Senator Marco Rubio in the Republican primary. However, before the general elections, she switched her position, saying she would vote for Trump. Last week, Haley was elected Vice Chair of the powerful Republican Governors Association for the year 2017.

Haley, who was raised as a Sikh and later converted to Christianity, is married to Army National Guard Captain Michael Haley and has two children. Her husband was deployed to Afghanistan in 2013 as a member of the SC National Guard. In an op-ed on CNN, South Carolina’s popular columnist Issac Bailey recently wrote Haley is perfectly positioned to do what many believed Hillary Clinton would have. — PTI