The US has never had a female president, but one Republican hopeful– Nikki Haley– has many wondering if this will finally change.
In the lead up to the first caucuses and primaries that will determine the Republican presidential candidate, the 51-year-old former UN Ambassador and South Carolina governor is grabbing voters’ attention as she makes a strong bid against Donald Trump, the current Republican frontrunner.
While she’s still trailing the former president in the polls by 50 points, according to the Financial Review, recent polling data from RealClearPolitics show Haley as a stronger general-election candidate than Trump if she were to go up against current president Joe Biden in the 2024 election.
She is rapidly gaining in the polls and drawing large campaign donations from billionaires, ahead of the Republican primary, which will occur in Iowa on January 15.
Other than Trump, Haley’s nearest rivals include Florida governor Ron DeSantis, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy and former New Jersey governor Chris Christie.
Billionaire backings
In recent weeks, several high-profile donors have indicated they’ll back her over DeSantis, who is polling behind her. Billionaire Charles Koch’s network has raised millions in an effort to support Haley’s campaign– an endorsement that BBC news correspondent Sam Cabral says “has the potential to reshape the race”.
On Friday, Home Depot co-founder and billionaire Ken Langone put his support behind Haley as well, saying Trump’s time has “come and gone”.
At the Republican’s final debate last week, Haley’s recent surge in party support made her a prime target from the group, especially as Trump chose not to attend.
DeSantis lead the attacks, saying “she will cave to the donors” who he claimed are making money in China and “are not going to let her be tough on China”.
Ramaswamy also took a swing at Haley, accusing her of corruption.
“Larry Fink, the king of the woke industrial complex, the ESG movement, the CEO of BlackRock, the most powerful company in the world, now supports Nikki Haley,” he said.
Responding to the attacks by laughing them off, Haley said, “I love all the attention fellas”, adding that they were mad because she was taking away their donor support.
“When it comes to these corporate people who want to suddenly support us we’ll take it, but I don’t ask them what their policies are. They asked me what my policies are. We opposed every single corporate bailout we possibly could,” she said.
So, what is Nikki Haley’s background?
The daughter of Indian immigrants and raised in the Sikh faith, Haley grew up in rural South Carolina where she described enduring racism. In her video announcing her presidential bid, she referenced this past, saying it had an impact on her personal and political life.
In 2011, Haley became the first woman and first Indian American to be elected governor of South Carolina. She then served as the ambassador to the United Nations from the US under President Trump.
When she launched her presidential campaign in February 2023, Haley was the first major GOP challenger to Trump and only the fifth Republican woman to run for president this century.
What are her policies?
Haley has said in multiple debates that she is against abortion rights for women. She stands apart from the rest of her GOP competition, however, as she has called for a “national consensus” when it comes to a federal abortion ban. Haley has said she would sign a six-week abortion ban if that was what “the people decide”, with exceptions for rape and incest.
Despite being the daughter of immigrants, Haley’s stance against immigration is tough– although still more lenient than her GOP rivals. She has said she would assign thousands of immigration agents to carry out deportations and has called on the US to “close” the border” and defund “sanctuary cities”.
When it comes to other issues, her stances are as follows: Haley blames big government spending for inflation, has said China is “the greatest threat to American security and prosperity”, believes helping Ukraine defend itself from Russian aggression is in the US national interest, spoke out against red flag gun laws and has opposed efforts to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act.
Can she beat Trump?
Although she has worked under Trump as UN Ambassador and supported him in the past, Haley is distancing herself from him in her presidential campaign.
“A president must have moral clarity”, she says in a campaign video, adding that Americans “have to leave behind the chaos and drama of the past”.
Political analysts believe Haley has a chance at the presidency since she can garner support from the independent and moderate voters– those people who don’t support Donal Trump and have mixed views of Joe Biden’s performance as president.
She also has the potential to close the gender gap and class divide, according to Politico, where Trump has especially struggled to gain the majority votes of women and white voters with university degrees.
As the runner-up to Trump– who faces 91 criminal charges– Haley would be next in line for the GOP nomination should he end up in jail and the Republican convention decides they don’t want to run someone who’s a convicted felon.