This week, Republican Nikki Haley entered the race for president in 2024, becoming the first major opponent to former President Donald Trump in a field that is expected to grow in the coming months. Here are some facts about the former South Carolina governor and the United States ambassador to the United Nations:
‘DIVISIVE SYMBOL’
During her second term as governor, a self-avowed white supremacist who had been photographed holding Confederate flags murdered nine Black parishioners as they gathered for Bible study in a Charleston church. For years prior to the 2015 killings, Haley had resisted calls to remove the Confederate flag from the Statehouse grounds, even portraying a rival’s push as a desperate stunt. However, following the massacre, and with the backing of other prominent Republicans, Haley advocated for legislation to remove the flag. It was removed less than a month after the killings.
In a 2019 interview with conservative host Glen Beck, Haley said the Charleston shooter “hijacked” the ideals many associated with the flag, including the “service, sacrifice, and heritage” it meant to some. After many people said the flag represented treason and racial hatred, Haley issued a statement on Twitter saying she stood by her call to have it removed. In a speech to the Republican National Convention in 2020, Haley called the flag a “divisive symbol” that was removed peacefully after weeks of protests alleging racial injustice by police.
‘I WAS DIFFERENT’
Haley, the daughter of Indian immigrants, grew up in the small rural community of Bamberg, South Carolina. She was raised in the Sikh faith by a father who wore a turban and a mother who wore a sari, and she has described enduring racist taunts and feeling like she didn’t fit in, which she says influenced her personal and political life. Haley mentioned her past in a video announcing her presidential bid, saying she grew up “not Black, not white — I was different.” She also insisted as she has in previous speeches, that America is not a racist nation. “Nothing could be further from the truth,” she declared officially on Wednesday.
HISTORY WITH TRUMP
Haley has had a rocky relationship with Trump, transitioning from harsh critic to ardent supporter to 2024 rival.
During the Republican presidential primary in 2016, Haley backed Florida Senator Marco Rubio. She later endorsed Texas Senator Ted Cruz. Trump, she said, is “everything a governor does not want in a president.” However, Haley eventually stated her support for the Republican nominee, and shortly after Trump’s election, she agreed to serve as the new administration’s ambassador to the United Nations. She wholeheartedly supported his reelection bid in 2020. Her most recent flip-flop: her decision to run for president after initially saying she would not challenge Trump if he ran again.
NOTABLE FIRSTS
Before becoming governor of South Carolina, Haley worked as an accountant and served in the state House of Representatives. She defeated the state’s longest-serving House member in her first campaign in 2004. Three terms later, she launched a longshot bid for governor, defeating a field of veteran politicians to become South Carolina’s first woman and Indian American governor. She was also the nation’s youngest governor at the age of 38. Haley is the first woman to be a major presidential candidate in 2024 and only the fifth Republican woman in this century.
