Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Leading Indian-American politician Nikki Haley on Tuesday launched her presidential bid for the 2024 elections, challenging her former boss Donald Trump’s bid for a second season in the White House, and also any other Republican’s attempts to step into the ex-President’s shoes.
If she gets the Republican nomination and is elected as the US President, she will be among the Indian-origin politicians ruling other countries, like the United Kingdom where Indian-Briton Rishi Sunak is the current Prime Minister.
Identifying herself as the proud daughter of Indian immigrants, she announced her candidacy for the office of the US President, becoming the first major in-house Republican challenger to Donald Trump for the 2024 nomination.
Haley, 51, is the two-term Governor of South Carolina and the former US Ambassador to the United Nations.
“I’m Nikki Haley, and I’m running for President,” she announced in a video message.
“It’s time for a new generation of leadership – to rediscover fiscal responsibility, secure our border, and strengthen our country, our pride, and our purpose. Some people look at America and see vulnerability. The socialist left sees an opportunity to rewrite history,” she said.
“We turned away from fear toward God and the values that still make our country the freest and greatest in the world. We must turn in that direction again,” she said.
Casting herself as a younger, fresher alternative to Trump, Haley had been hinting at a White House bid for weeks.
Her formal declaration means she will be the first contender to join the contest against her former 76-year-old boss Trump, who announced his third bid for the White House late last year.
Nimrata Nikki Haley served as the 116th governor of South Carolina from 2011 to 2017. She was appointed as the 29th United States Ambassador to the United Nations by President Donald Trump and served from January 2017 through December 2018.
She was born on January 20, 1972, in Bamberg, South Carolina, to her father Ajit Singh Randhawa, and her mother Raj Kaur Randhawa.
Her full name is Nimrata Nikki Randhawa Haley. She married Michael Haley in 1996 and has two children with him—Rena and Nalin.