Nikki Haley is the last bulwark against Trump’s takeover of the Republican Party. How long will she last?

Nikki Haley is the last Republican candidate standing between Donald Trump and the 2024 Republican presidential nomination.

When she announced her run on 14 February 2023, she became the first woman of colour to be a major candidate for the Republican nomination and the first woman governor to run for the top job.

As the last bulwark of the old pre-2016 Republican establishment standing in Mr Trump’s way, the former UN ambassador and South Carolina governor has vowed to remain in the race until at least the primary in her home state on 24 February, but polling has her around 30 points behind Mr Trump there.

Top state officials, such as current governor Henry McMcMaster and senator Tim Scott, who Ms Haley appointed to the Senate and who previously dropped out of the presidential race, are backing Mr Trump in what some see as a cynical attempt to elevate themselves for jobs in a possible second Trump administration in January 2025.

Proving herself to be a nimble debater, Ms Haley grew from 4 per cent on the day she launched her campaign to 12.2 per cent as of 24 January in FiveThirtyEight’s national GOP primary polling average. During that same time, Mr Trump went from 43.8 to 68.5 per cent.

She has steadily grown in strength through high-profile clashes, particularly through her sparring with anti-woke author and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and Florida governor Ron DeSantis, both of whom endorsed Mr Trump after dropping out.

Even as Mr DeSantis campaigned hard in Iowa, Ms Haley came within just two points of him in the state. His departure from the race handed Ms Haley the two-person contest she always coveted, and in New Hampshire on Tuesday night, she hung on to Mr Trump, ending up just over 11 per cent behind him after the former president won the Iowa caucuses by 30 points. But the electorate and voting rules in the Granite State were some of the friendliest territory Ms Haley is likely to face this primary cycle.

Mr Trump appeared frustrated by his last remaining opponent’s decision to stay in the race despite her loss.

“Who the hell was the imposter that went up on the stage that went before and claimed victory?” Mr Trump said after Ms Haley’s speech. “She didn’t win, she lost. She did very poorly actually.”

Ms Haley didn’t claim victory – in fact, she congratulated Mr Trump on winning, but Mr Trump’s eagerness to lash out against her suggests she’s in his head even as he steamrolls to the nomination.

“She is not going to win, but if she did she would be under investigation by those people in 15 minutes. I could tell you five reasons why already, not big reasons, little stuff that she doesn’t want to talk about, but she will be under investigation in minutes,” he added in what appeared to be a threat.

Ms Haley merely noted that New Hampshire is only the second contest, and there’s a long way to go until the Republican convention in July.

Ms Haley grew up in 1970s South Carolina to Sikh parents who immigrated from India to Canada in 1964 after her father received a scholarship from the University of British Columbia, getting his PhD before moving to Bamford in 1969 to take up a post as a biology professor at Voorhees College.

Mr Trump has been referring to Ms Haley, who was born Nimarata Nikki Randhawa, by her first name, in a seemingly racist attempt to emphasise her immigrant roots, but she has always gone by her middle name Nikki, taking the last name Haley after her 1996 marriage.

After working for her family’s clothing business starting at the age of 12, Ms Haley joined the board of directors at the Orangeburg County Chamber of Commerce in 1998 and the Lexington Chamber of Commerce in 2003, becoming the treasurer of the National Association of Women Business Owners in that same year and its president in 2004. 

It was that year that Ms Haley won her first seat, representing District 87 in the state house, beating incumbent Republican Larry Koon by 10 points in a runoff election.

During that election, she said some people asked: “What religion is she? Is she Muslim? Is she part of that group with Osama bin Laden?”

The first Indian American to hold office in the state, she was unopposed for her re-election in 2006 and beat a Democrat in 2008 after receiving 83 per cent of the vote.

Asked by The New York Times in 2012 why there are few women from her generation in politics, she said: “It’s not because the challenge is too hard. It’s simply because women don’t run.”

Xural.com