Early life and education

Haley was born Nimrata Nikki Randhawa in Bamberg, South Carolina, on January 20, 1972, to an Indian Sikh family. She was "always called Nikki, which means "little one," by her family." Her parents, Ajit Singh Randhawa and Raj Kaur Randhawa, are immigrants from Amritsar District, Punjab, India, where Ajit had been a professor at Punjab Agricultural University. Haley's parents immigrated to Canada after her father received a scholarship offer from the University of British Columbia. After earning his PhD in 1969, Ajit moved his young family to South Carolina to accept a position as a professor at Voorhees College.

Haley has two brothers, Mitti, a retired member of the United States Army Chemical Corps who served in Desert Storm, and Charan, a web designer. She also has a sister, Simran, a radio host and Fashion Institute of Technology alumna, born in Singapore.

At age 12, Haley began helping with the bookkeeping in her mother's ladies' clothing shop. The Economist likens her with another shopkeeper's daughter, Margaret Thatcher, writing that Haley's girlhood job in her mother's shop gave her, "an extreme watchfulness about overheads and a sharp aversion to government intrusion."

Haley is a graduate of Orangeburg Preparatory Schools and Clemson University, with a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting.

Career

Haley worked for FCR Corporation, a waste management and recycling company, before joining her mother's business, Exotica International, an upscale clothing firm, in 1994. The family business grew to become a multi-million dollar company.

Haley was named to the board of directors of the Orangeburg County Chamber of Commerce in 1998. She was named to the board of directors of the Lexington Chamber of Commerce in 2003. Haley became treasurer of the National Association of Women Business Owners in 2003 and president in 2004. She chaired the Lexington Gala to raise funds for the local hospital. She also serves on the Lexington Medical Foundation, Lexington County Sheriff's Foundation, and West Metro Republican Women. She is president of the South Carolina Chapter of the National Association of Women Business Owners and was chair for the 2006 Friends of Scouting Leadership Division campaign. She is a member of the Rotary Club in Lexington.

South Carolina House of Representatives

Elections

In 2004, Haley ran for the South Carolina House of Representatives for a district in Lexington County. She challenged incumbent state Representative Larry Koon in the Republican primary—the real contest in this heavily Republican district. Koon, who had served since 1975, was the longest-serving member of the House. Her platform was anti-tax and fiscally conservative with an emphasis on education. In the primary election, she forced a runoff as Koon won just 42% of the vote. She placed second with 40% of the vote. In the runoff, she defeated him 55%-45%. She then ran unopposed in the general election. She became the first Indian-American to hold office in South Carolina.

She was unopposed for re-election to a second term in 2006. In 2008, she won re-election to a third term, defeating Democrat Edgar Gomez 83%-17%.

Tenure

Haley was elected chair of the freshman caucus in 2005 and majority whip in the South Carolina General Assembly. She was the only freshman legislator named to a whip spot.

Fiscal policy

One of Haley's stated goals is to lower taxes. She voted against a bill to override the governor's veto (when Mark Sanford was still in office) to place a surtax on every cigarette produced. The funds earned would be appropriated to smoking prevention programs and cancer research related to smoking. She voted for a bill that raised sales taxes to six percent. The bill exempted sales tax on unprepared food such as canned goods. The same bill also exempts property tax on "owner-occupied residential property" except for the taxes due from what is still owed on the property.

Haley has said that funds allocated for public education can be used more effectively. She has proposed a plan that would determine a teacher's salary based not only on seniority and qualifications but also on job performance. This performance rating would be determined by evaluations and reports from principals, students, and parents. During her gubernatorial campaign, Haley stated that she would be in favor of school choice and more charter schools. She has said that wasteful spending occurs when funds allocated for education sit too long in departmental accounts before being spent.

Haley supports barring legislators from collecting legislative pensions while they're in office. She believes the pensions should be based only on the $10,400 legislative salary instead of the salary plus lawmakers' $12,000 annual expense allowance.

Immigration policy

Haley has stated that, as the daughter of immigrants, she believes the immigration laws should be enforced. She voted in favor of a law that requires employers to be able to prove that newly hired employees are legal residents of the United States, and also requires all immigrants to carry documentation at all times proving that they are legally in the United States. The law was adopted, but is currently the subject of a lawsuit initiated by the United States Justice Department on numerous grounds, including claims the immigration law violates the Supremacy Clause. Rob Godfrey, a spokesman for Haley, said, "If the feds were doing their job, we wouldn't have had to address illegal immigration reform at the state level. But, until they do, we're going to keep fighting in South Carolina to be able to enforce our laws."

Abortion

Haley is pro-life. Haley has consistently supported bills that protect the rights of a fetus and restrict abortion, except when the mother's life is at risk. As a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives in 2006, Haley voted for the Penalties for Harming an Unborn Child/Fetus law, which asserted that an act of violence against a fetus is akin to a criminal act against the mother. She also voted for two separate bills that required a woman to first look at an ultrasound and then wait 24 hours before being permitted to have an abortion. Haley has voted yes on some bills relating to abortion that were tabled or rejected, including the Inclusion of Unborn Child/Fetus in Definition for Civil Suits Amendment, Prohibiting Employment Termination Due to Abortion Waiting Period amendment, and Exempting Cases of Rape from Abortion Waiting Period amendment. The last-mentioned bill would have allowed specific cases of women to not have to wait the mandatory 24 hours before having an abortion.

Committee assignments

• Labor, Commerce and Industry
• Medical, Military, Public and Municipal Affairs

Caucus memberships

• Freshman Caucus, 2005-2006 (Chair)
• Lexington County Meth Taskforce
• Sportsman's Caucus
• Women's Caucus, 2007 (Vice Chair)

2010 election for Governor

Main article: South Carolina gubernatorial election, 2010

On May 14, 2009, Haley announced that she would be running for the Republican nomination for Governor of South Carolina in 2010. Haley had been persuaded to run by incumbent Governor Mark Sanford. On November 11, 2009, she was endorsed by former Massachusetts governor and GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney, as well as Jenny Sanford, the incumbent first lady of South Carolina. She was polling last in the GOP race before a surprise endorsement from former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, three weeks before the primary vote. The Republican gubernatorial primary took place on June 8, 2010, and Haley captured 49% of the vote, necessitating a runoff election on June 22. Haley won handily in the runoff vote.

Haley was elected governor on November 2, 2010, over the Democratic candidate, Vincent Sheheen 51% to 47%. She is considered the third non-white person to have been elected as governor of a Southern state, after Virginia's L. Douglas Wilder and Louisiana's Bobby Jindal. (Though notably, Nikki Haley identified herself as “white” on her voter registration card in 2001.)

In July 2013, Haley was fined $3,500 by the State Ethics Commission and given a "public warning" for failing to report the addresses of eight donors during her 2010 campaign for governor.

Governorship

Economic policies

Haley supports lower taxes and opposes regulation. In inviting business to move to South Carolina she has said:

What I'm saying is, if you come to South Carolina, the cost of doing business is going to be low here. We are going to make sure that you have a loyal, willing workforce and we are going to be one of the lowest union-participation states in the country.

Confederate flag

In June 2015, following the Charleston church shooting, Haley led bi-partisan calls for the removal of the Confederate flag from the State Capitol and its grounds. Haley stated:

"These grounds (the State Capital) are a place that everybody should feel a part of. What I realized now more than ever is people were driving by and felt hurt and pain. No one should feel pain." Haley also said, "There is a place for that flag," but she said. "It's not in a place that represents all people in South Carolina."

In July 2015 Haley signed a Bill to authorize removing the Confederate flag from the flagpole on the grounds of the South Carolina Capitol.

LGBT issues

In April 2016, Haley indicated she would not support legislation introduced by the South Carolina State Senate which would require transgender individuals to use restrooms based on biological sex instead of gender identity. Haley stated:

“These are not instances....Y’all haven’t reported on anything. I haven’t heard anything that’s come to my office. So when I look at South Carolina, we look at our situations, we’re not hearing of anybody’s religious liberties that are being violated, and we’re, again, not hearing any citizens that feel like they are being violated in terms of freedoms.”

Haley described such restroom legislation as unnecessary.

Other issues

Haley signed a law cracking down on illegal immigration in June 2011. She also supports a law requiring photo identification at the polls.

As governor, in 2016, Haley received extensive press coverage for saying the phrase "bless your heart" in response to an attack by GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump.

In 2016, Governor Haley was named among "The 100 Most Influential People" by Time magazine.

2014 re-election

Main article: South Carolina gubernatorial election, 2014

On August 12, 2013, Haley announced she would seek a second term during a rally August 26, 2013, at the BI-LO Center in downtown Greenville. She faced a challenge in the primaries for Republican nomination from Tom Ervin. However Ervin withdrew and then contested the 2014 gubernatorial elections as independent.

As in 2010, Vincent Sheheen of the Democratic party was once again her challenger. Republican-turned-Independent Tom Ervin was also running in early stages of the contest, as well as Libertarian Steve French, and United Citizens Party candidate Morgan Bruce Reeves. The first public debate was held in Charleston on October 14, between French, Ervin, Haley, Reeves, and Sheheen. The second public debate in Greenville on October 21, again included all five candidates. A week after the second debate, Ervin withdrew from the race and endorsed Sheheen.

Haley was re-elected on November 4, 2014, with a 55.9 percent to 41.3 percent win, almost tripling her previous margin of victory over Sheheen in 2010 gubernatorial elections. Her second term as governor of South Carolina expires in January 2019.

Potential Vice-Presidential candidacy

The Economist described Haley as a politician with high approval ratings and as combination of "fiscal ferocity and a capacity for conciliation," and stated as a female candidate and ethnic minority she had the potential to salve the xenophobia of the 2016 Republican primary. Haley was mentioned early in 2016 as a potential candidate for the Vice Presidency. On May 4, 2016, after Trump became the presumptive presidential nominee following his last competitor John Kasich suspending his campaign, Haley denied interest in the vice presidential nomination.

Personal life

Haley was born and raised as a Sikh. In September 1996, she married Michael Haley with both Sikh and Methodist ceremonies. Haley identifies herself today as a Christian. She sits on the board for Mt. Horeb United Methodist Church.

Her husband is an officer in the South Carolina Army National Guard and was sent on a year-long deployment to Afghanistan in January 2013. The couple have two children, Rena and Nalin.

In May 2015, she received an honorary doctorate in public service from the University of South Carolina.

[ Source: Wikipedia ]