Nikki Haley Biography

Quick Facts

NAME: Nikki Haley
OCCUPATION: U.S. Governor
BIRTH DATE: January 20, 1972 (Age: 41)
EDUCATION: Clemson University
PLACE OF BIRTH: Bamberg, South Carolina
Full Name: Nikki Randhawa Haley
AKA: Nikki Haley
ZODIAC SIGN: Aquarius

Best Known For

Nikki Haley was elected governor of South Carolina in 2010, becoming both the first female and Indian-American to fill the role.

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Nikki Haley

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Nikki Haley. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 02:11, May 23, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/nikki-haley-20939217.

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Nikki Haley. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/nikki-haley-20939217. Accessed May 23, 2013.

In an interview with Columbia's WVOC radio on June 4, 2010, Haley said that if she were elected governor and the claims against her were validated, she would resign.

Around the same time those affair claims were made, South Carolina state Senator Jake Knotts, a supporter of Haley's opponent, Bauer, called her a "raghead." Knotts vehemently defended his comments at first,

saying Haley was hiding her Sikh religion and posing as a Methodist. He later apologized and said the remark was "intended in jest."

In a June 2010 Newsweek article, Haley was quoted speaking about breaking racial and gender barriers: "The fact that I happen to be an Indian female, of course that brings a new dynamic," she said. "But what I hope it does is cause a conversation in this state where we no longer live by layers, but we live by philosophies."

Vice President Speculation

In 2012, rumors spread that Mitt Romney, President Barack Obama's challenger in the 2012 presidential election, would choose Haley as his vice-presidential running mate. But Haley said that she would decline any position he might offer her. "The people of South Carolina gave me a chance," she said in an Associated Press interview in April 2012. "I have a job to do and I'm not going to leave my job for anything."

Despite rumors regarding Haley's possible vice-presidential nomination, Romney announced U.S. Republican Congressman Paul Ryan as his running mate for vice president in August 2012.