Nikki Haley calls herself ‘proud daughter of Indian immigrants’, officially launches 2024 U.S. presidential bid
The Hindu
Nikki Haley is the third Indian-American to run for the U.S. presidency in three consecutive election cycles
Pitching for a strong and proud America, Indian-origin Republican leader Nikki Haley formally launched her 2024 presidential bid on February 15, casting herself as a younger and fresher alternative to the 20th century politicians like her one-time boss and former president Donald Trump.
Ms. Haley, 51, is the two-term Governor of South Carolina and the former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations.
Addressing her enthusiastic supporters at a well-attended event here in the coastal city of South Carolina, Ms. Haley said: “I’m more confident than ever that we can make this vision real in our time – because that’s what I’ve seen my entire life. As a brown girl, growing up in a black-and-white world, I saw the promise of America unfold before me.”
In her speech, Ms. Haley leaned on her experience at the U.N., her background as the child of Indian immigrants and asserted, “Take it from me, America is not a racist country.”
Ms. Haley was born Nimrata Nikki Randhawa in Bamberg, South Carolina in 1972 to Sikh parents Ajit Singh Randhawa and Raj Kaur Randhawa, who had emigrated from Punjab to Canada and then to the U.S. in the 1960s.
She was raised as a Sikh but converted to Christianity after her marriage to Michael Haley in 1996.
“I see America leading the world – in freedom and peace. But this vision isn’t just mine. It’s the core of our nation’s history and it called to my parents over fifty years ago. I am the proud daughter of Indian immigrants,” she said.