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Indian-American Nikki Haley South Carolina's first woman governor
Wednesday November 03, 2010 01:13:45 PM,
Arun Kumar, IANS
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Washington:
Nikki Haley, the daughter of Sikh immigrant parents from Amritsar,
created history by becoming the first woman to win the governor's
race in South Carolina state and the first Indian American woman
in the country to occupy the office.
Haley, born Nimrata (Nikki) Randhawa will be the first woman chief
executive of the state and America's second Indian-American
governor after Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal, also a Republican,
who became the first with his election three years ago.
The 38-year-old mother of two, who defeated Democrat Vincent
Sheheen with a surprisingly close 51 percent-47 percent vote in
the most expensive election in state history Tuesday, has already
like Jindal been mentioned as a "long shot" presidential candidate
for 2012.
Haley saw quite a bit of controversy surround her campaign before
the primary earlier this year. From a racial slur from a fellow
lawmaker to unproven accusations of an affair by a political
blogger, Haley still snagged the Republican nomination in a
run-off in June with 65 percent votes.
Endorsed by former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney, former
South Carolina first lady Jenny Sanford, and former Alaska
governor Sarah Palin, Haley is also part of the populist,
conservative/libertarian Tea Party movement.
Haley, one of the strongest fiscal conservatives in state
government, was first elected to represent the 87th District in
Lexington County in 2004, when, as a virtual unknown, she beat the
longest serving state legislator in a Republican primary.
In 2008, Haley was sent back to the state house with 83 percent of
the vote - the highest percentage earned by any lawmaker facing a
contested South Carolina election that year.
Born in Bamberg, South Carolina, Nikki's first job was keeping the
books for her family's clothing store - at the age of 13.
She went on to graduate from Clemson University with a BS degree
in accounting and following her graduation worked as Accounting
Supervisor for the Charlotte, North Carolina based corporation FCR,
I nc. and five of its subsidiaries.
Nikki then went back to the family business where she helped
oversee its growth into a multimillion dollar operation.
Nikki and her husband Michael, a full time federal technician with
the South Carolina National Guard and an officer in the Army
National Guard, live in Lexington with their two children, Rena,
12, and Nalin, 8.
(Arun Kumar can
be contacted at arun.kumar@ians.in)
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