WASHINGTON: Former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley nee Nimrata Randhawa officially declared her candidacy for the United States presidency in 2024, stating that "it's time for a new generation of leadership" in the country and citing her heritage as "the proud daughter of Indian immigrants."
Haley, a Sikhni who was born in Bamberg, South Carolina, to parents who immigrated from Amritsar (Ajit Singh Randhawa and Raj Kaur), is the first official challenger to former President Donald Trump, with whom she has had an on-and-off, blow hot-blow cold political relationship. After opposing his presidential campaign in 2016, she became his fan when he won the Republican nomination. After that, she worked in his cabinet as the United States ambassador to the United Nations before leaving to build her own political base for 2024, even though she said she would not challenge Trump.
She made a three-and-a-half-minute video on Tuesday announcing her candidacy, appearing to be encouraged by her forays. In the video, she implicitly criticized the elderly frontrunners—Trump and President Joe Biden—from both sides. Even though she was once a member of the federal cabinet, she called for a new generation of leaders and lashed out at the "Washington establishment." She also talked about how good she was at foreign policy and how she was good as an immigrant child who liked American values to make herself more popular in a Republican race, where she is currently third, behind Trump and Florida governor Ron DeSantis, according to polls.
Even though strange things have occurred in US politics, including the election of outliers like Barack Obama and Donald Trump to the presidency, some political pundits believe that her presidential candidacy is an opportunistic attempt to secure a ticket as vice president.
Haley also talked a lot about her roots as an immigrant, which is unusual for a right-wing conservative and is viewed with suspicion by fringe MAGA supporters.
The town was divided into races by the railroad tracks. I was a proud Indian immigrant daughter. She says in the video, "Not black, not white, I was different," that her mother, an entrepreneur, helped her focus on similarities rather than differences. She has previously mentioned that her parents moved to a small town in the south, where her mother wore a sari and her father wore a turban, and that she was "a brown girl in a world of black and white."
William Michael Haley, a commissioned officer in the South Carolina army national guard, is Haley's husband. Rena, a daughter, and Nalin, a son, are the two of them. She was the first Indian American woman to serve in the Cabinet and the first Asian-American woman to be governor of the United States, making her political career and success a testament to the American ideals she admires.
Some view our past as evidence that the founding principles of the United States of America are flawed. They assert that the promise of freedom is fabricated. Some people believe that our ideas are not only wrong but also racist and evil. She asserts that "nothing could be further from the truth" while pointing out that Republicans have lost the popular vote in seven of the last eight elections and that "that has to change" — ostensibly by broadening their appeal.
In her announcement, Haley also impliedly addressed issues of race and gender, as well as her capacity to handle crises in foreign policy. She asserted, "They all think we can be bullied, kicked," averting the escalating threat posed by China and Russia. I should tell you this about myself: Bullies don't get along with me. And if you're wearing heels, it hurts them more when you kick back.
Haley is expected to hold her first campaign event in Charleston, South Carolina, her home state. Charleston is a crucial point in the party nomination race and typically has an early primary contest. Tim Scott, the only black senator in the US Congress, is one of her potential opponents. When she was governor, she nominated him for the position of senator.
The elephant in the room is, of course, Donald Trump, who has embraced Haley's "ambitious" attempt at the White House while implying that she has no chance. doing very well in the poll numbers. In a post on his social media platform, the former president stated, "Leading all Republicans by a large margin, and also leading Biden by a very wide margin."