Nikki Haley is a two-time governor of South Carolina and a former envoy to the United Nations.
Washington:
Nikki Haley, who announced her 2024 US presidential bid, not only took on political insiders in South Carolina but also confronted countries like China and Russia during her tenure at the United Nations.
In her speeches, Ms Haley, 51, identifies herself as a “proud daughter of Indian immigrants”, while in public life her friends and foes describe her as a “conservative outsider”, a “trailblazer” and a “fighter”. Are.
Born Nimrata Nikki Randhawa in Bamberg to immigrant Punjabi Sikh parents, she is a two-time governor of South Carolina and former US ambassador to the United Nations.
He earned an accounting degree from Clemson University. After that, she joined her family’s clothing business.
Prior to entering public service, she served as treasurer and president of the National Association of Women Business Owners.
At 39, Haley was the youngest governor in the US when she took office in January 2011 and made history as the first female governor of South Carolina. She was also the first Indian-American governor of the state and would serve for two terms.
From January 2017 to December 2018, he served as the 29th US Ambassador to the United Nations under the previous Trump administration.
Being a woman from an ethnic minority community, pundits have underestimated Haley throughout her life, and she has proved them wrong every time.
When she ran for the state legislature, she defeated the 30-year Republican incumbent.
When she ran for governor she defeated better known and better funded Republicans and defied expectations at the United Nations and showed the world what real leadership looks like.
As Nikki likes to say, “Underestimate me…it’ll be fun.” As governor of South Carolina, she was known as a job creator, reformer, and conservative champion, while as a diplomat at the United Nations, she was a reformer, fighter, and human rights champion.
At the United Nations, she ushered in a new era for Israel at the global body, urging former President Donald Trump to move the US embassy to Jerusalem and defending America’s “sovereign right” to do so.
She also stood up for Israel’s right to defend itself and condemned the UN’s regular anti-Israel bias.
Haley established a close relationship with India, recognized its voice and frequently consulted New Delhi on various issues of importance to the global community.
She visited India in 2018 and met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and discussed ways to enhance Indo-US cooperation at multiple levels, including counter-terrorism.
At the United Nations, he negotiated the strongest set of sanctions against North Korea while persuading China and Russia to sign the accord.
Known as the “Iran Whisperer”, she was instrumental in making the case for former US President Barack Obama’s cancellation of the Iran nuclear deal.
Haley held the United Nations accountable, leading to the US withdrawal from the corrupt and anti-Israel United Nations Human Rights Council. He negotiated historic reforms at the United Nations, cutting the UN budget and making the global body’s missions more effective and transparent.
At the United Nations, she was the Trump administration’s most vocal critic of Russia. He also took aim at the world’s worst human rights abusers, including North Korea, Cuba, Venezuela and Syria.
She was named one of the 100 Most Powerful Women in the World by Forbes for her work at the United Nations.
Haley’s tenure at the United Nations marked a turning point in US-China relations. He confronted China’s Uyghur atrocities and re-education camps, and warned of the existential threat China poses to America and the world.
Nikki advanced and signed a bill to record legislative votes.
Known as the “Jobs Governor”, Haley transformed South Carolina’s economy during his tenure as governor and turned the state into a manufacturing powerhouse.
He cut taxes, repealed burdensome regulations, and turned South Carolina into the “Beast of the Southeast.” Under his leadership, statistics show, the state’s unemployment rate reached a 15-year low, and when he left office, South Carolina was at full employment.
At the end of his term, more South Carolinians were working than at any other time in history, and the state was performing better than the national average.
His state administration moved thousands of South Carolinians off welfare to work.
He signed a voter ID bill and defended it against Obama’s lawsuit.
Ms. Haley describes herself as pro-life and has spoken openly about the difficulties she had with having children and adopting her husband. As governor, she signed major pro-life bills and initiated initiatives to help pregnant women and new mothers.
She has been known for offering steady, compassionate leadership through several crises, including a mass shooting by a white supremacist, police shootings, hurricanes, two ice storms, and a 1,000-year flood.
He averted the riots that beset other states and negotiated a bipartisan agreement to remove the Confederate flag from the Statehouse.
Supporting the military and their families is personal to Haley. In 2013, her husband Michael, a combat veteran, was deployed to Afghanistan, making her the first governor in US history to deploy a spouse.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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