Nikki Haley Could Defeat Most Democrats and Become the First Woman President

I don’t support her policies, but I see her potential

Nikki Haley has executive leadership experience as the Governor of South Carolina, foreign policy experience as U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, and practical experience as a woman who worked her way through the ranks of the Republican Party. She not only held her own while debating against the male contenders, she absolutely owned them. If Donald Trump loses the nomination, she is poised to be the Republican candidate in 2024. At age 51, Haley has a long political career ahead of her.

Donald Trump may be way ahead in the polls, but anything could happen. Maybe he will be convicted on one of the many indictments he is defending against. Maybe the MAGA public will see the error of their ways. Maybe his clock will run out — he is 77 after all. Without Trump in the race, Nikki Haley is the clear choice.

Who is Nikki Haley?

Nikki Haley was born Nimarata Nikki Randhawa in 1972 to East Indian parents in Bamberg, South Carolina. One of four children, Nikki’s father was a professor of biology and her mother had a law degree from the University of New Delhi, later got a Master’s degree in education, and after teaching for seven years, opened a clothing store called “Exotica International” that became hugely successful and where daughter Nikki eventually managed the books.

After receiving a B.S. in accounting from Clemson University in 1994, Haley had an assortment of positions in the public-service sector. In 1996, Nikki Randhawa married Michael Haley, who she met while attending Clemson. In 1997, Haley converted from Sikhism to Christianity and regularly attends a Methodist Church with her family, while also attending Sikh services a couple times a year.

Haley credits Hillary Clinton for inspiring her to pursue a career in politics. She served in the South Carolina House of Representatives from 2004 until 2011, where she focused on educational reforms and property tax relief. Haley ran for governor in 2011 as a Tea Party candidate. She defeated her challenger in a run-off election, after getting endorsements from Governor Mark (hiking the Appalachian Trail, while really seeing his mistress in Argentina) Sanford, his wife Jenny Sanford, Mitt Romney, and Sarah Palin.

Nikki Haley was the first Indian-American to hold office in South Carolina, the youngest governor in America at the time, and the first minority woman governor ever. While serving as governor, her husband Michael Haley — an officer in the National Guard — was deployed in Afghanistan. As governor, Haley selected Tim Scott to fill a Senate vacancy, making him the first African American Senator from the South since Reconstruction. She demonstrated leadership by removing the Confederate flag from the Capitol grounds following the murder of nine people at the Mother Emanuel AME Church by white supremacist Dylann Roof in June 2015. She showed her leadership skills again in October 2016 by demanding evacuations before Hurricane Matthew hit South Carolina. In 2016, Time magazine declared her one of the 100 most influential people in the world.

Haley served as Ambassador to the United Nations from 2017 through 2018. When Trump nominated her, she resigned her position as governor two years before her term was up. In the U.N., Haley supported Trump’s controversial withdrawals from the Iran Nuclear Deal, the U.N. Human Rights Council, and the Paris Climate Agreement — the latter two were reversed under Biden. To her credit, Haley did occasionally disagree with Trump while at the U.N.

Where does Nikki Haley stand on the issues?

Human Rights = mixed

• In agreement with President Trump, she withdrew the United States from the U.N. Human Rights Council.
• She is against the discrimination of the Uighur people in China and the Rohingya in Myanmar.

Civil Rights = mixed

• She supports voter photo identification, which could disenfranchise the poor and elderly.
• She did not approve of Trump’s Muslim ban, because she saw discrimination on the basis of religion as un-American.
• Despite experiencing racism herself, she denies that systemic racism is a problem in the United States.

Immigration = Conservative

• Despite her parents’ immigrant status, Haley is tough on immigration.
• She wants employers to have proof of legal residence from all new hires.
• She supports “catch and deport.”
• She wants immigrants to carry documentation of their status.
• She does see the need for legal pathways to citizenship to help with labor shortages.

Education = panders to the extreme right

• As Governor, Haley was a champion of charter schools, which hurts public schools.
• She tied teacher raises to job performance based on evaluations by parents and students, along with qualifications and seniority. Evaluations of this sort benefit teachers at high-performing schools, but can hurt teachers at high-risk schools.
• She believes that Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” law doesn’t go far enough, which is also a human rights issue.
• She is against the teaching of CRT (Critical Race Theory).

Abortion = inconsistent

• Haley has vacillated on her position regarding abortion.
• At times she has supported a ban after 20 weeks and other times she has favored a ban after six weeks.

Environment = poor

• She believes that climate change is caused by human actions, but she is not an environmentalist.
• She is not concerned with greenhouse gas emissions and is not in favor of renewable energy subsidies.
• She is still against the Paris Climate Agreement.

Position against Autocrats = good

• She supports a tougher stance against North Korea.
• She broke with Donald Trump while in the U.N. by demanding sanctions against Russia and Bashar al-Assad of Syria.
• She supports Ukraine over Russia.

Israel vs. Palestine = pro-Israel

• While at the U.N., Haley was a staunch advocate of Israel.
• She supported the move of the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
• In January 2018, she supported Trump’s withholding of aid to Palestinians via the U.N. Relief and Works Agency.
• She supports a two-state solution for Israel and Palestine.

Ethics = questionable

• She has had assorted ethics complaints.
• In 2017, she was convicted of violating the Hatch Act when she retweeted Trump’s endorsement of Ralph Norman.
• In 2018, she got called out for accepting numerous luxury trips on private planes.

Trump = inconsistent

• She criticized him harshly before the 2016 election, then cozied up to him.
• She defends Donald Trump’s policy record as president, but believes that history will judge him harshly for his actions relating to the January 6 insurrection at the U.S. Capitol Building.
• She declared that she would support Trump if he got the 2024 nomination even if he was convicted of one of his many alleged crimes.
• She declared that she would not compete with him for the presidency, but she is running.
• As president, she would pardon Trump if he gets convicted — for the good of the nation.

WOULD Nikki Haley be a good president?

She flip-flops on so many issues — like abortion, displaying the Confederate flag, and what position to take regarding President Trump — it is hard to determine where she actually stands.

Can we trust Nikki Haley?

On one hand, I respect that politicians will change their position when presented with facts or when they become better educated about a topic. However, I have no respect for someone who tells everyone what they want to hear to secure their position, which seems to be Haley’s playbook. Plus, Haley has experienced multiple ethics issues.

Throughout her career, Nikki Haley’s timing has been excellent with her moves from the South Carolina House of Representatives to Governor to U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations. She preemptively declined offers of the Vice Presidency from both Romney and Trump. When she landed on the debate stage against the likes of Ron DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy, Tim Scott, Mike Pence, Chris Christy, and the others, she performed brilliantly. She was composed, had sharp responses, and overall impressed the nation.

Nikki Haley wants to please the entire spectrum of the Republican Party, which is a difficult task. She has gone out of her way not to offend the MAGA crowd, while trying not to alienate the old-school Republicans. If she makes it to the Republican nomination, she’ll have to attract independents. If she can manage that, she could likely secure the prize by becoming the first woman president of the United States.

Haley vs. the Democrats

While I believe that Joe Biden can defeat Donald Trump for second time, I am not sure how he will hold up against a younger candidate — especially Nikki Haley. Going up against a different Democrat, Haley still has a good chance for success. It will all be up to the moderates, and if it this competition doesn’t occur in 2024, we will likely see it in 2028.

While Ron DeSantis’s star is falling hard, Nikki Haley’s star is rising fast. According to a November 22, 2023, article in Politico, the “Never-Trumpers” have taken a liking to Haley, and they are lining up with their financial support. The upcoming primaries will determine it all.

(C) Joyce O’Day 2023. All Rights Reserved.

AI was NOT used in the creation of this article.