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Nikki Haley
Nimrata Randhawa "Nikki" Haley, (born January 20, 1972) is an American politician and diplomat. Haley served as the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations for the Trump Administration, from 2017-2018. She served as the Republican Governor of South Carolina from 2011-2017, and was the first female governor of the state. Previously, from 2004-2010, she served as a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives. Contents[hide]
Early CareerHaley was educated at Clemson University, and worked for the waste management & recycling company, FCR Corporation. She also worked as bookkeeper and chief financial officer of her family's clothing business, Exotica International. Other organizations she worked for include the Orangeburg County Chamber of Commerce, the Lexington Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Women Business Owners, the Lexington Medical Foundation, Lexington County Sheriff's Foundation, West Metro Republican Women, the National Association of Women Business Owners, and the 2006 Friends of Scouting Leadership Division campaign. South Carolina House of RepresentativesHaley was first elected to represent the 87th District of Lexington County in 2004. As a virtual unknown, she defeated Larry Koon, the longest serving state legislator, in a Republican primary with 55% of the vote. Haley campaigned on low taxes and education reform. She won the general election unopposed, and was re-elected in 2006, also unopposed. In 2008, Haley won a third term against Democrat opponent Edgar Gomez with 83 percent of the vote, the highest percentage earned by any lawmaker facing a contested South Carolina election that year. South Carolina GovernorHaley announced her candidacy for South Carolina governor on May 14th, 2009. During her 2010 campaign for governor, Haley was endorsed by then-former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney and then-First Lady of South Carolina, Jenny Sanford. She was also endorsed by former Alaska governor Sarah Palin. Haley later turned on Palin after her victory, saying she would not return the favor by endorsing Palin in a potential 2012 presidential campaign[1]. She defeated Democratic candidate Vincent Sheheen with 51% of the vote. United Nations AmbassadorAs UN ambassador, Haley nominated gubernatorial predecessor David Beasley as the executive director of the World Food Programme. Beasley assumed the WFP position in April 2017.[2] In October 2018, Haley announced her resignation from the Trump Administration[3][4][5]. During the Republican National Convention in 2020, she expressed interest in rejoining the Trump administration assuming he would win re-election[6], but then turned against Trump after the 2020 election. She joined liberals in unfairly criticizing Trump's exercise of his First Amendment free speech rights, and his strong stance against electoral fraud[7]. In an interview published by Politico on February 12, 2021, Haley turned completely against Trump, speaking about him in terms of untrue "bad that he did" and falsely claiming that "he’s fallen so far."[8] Political positionsDespite claiming to be conservative, Haley is an establishment neocon who holds many liberal positions, and is widely regarded as a member of Conservative Inc. As South Carolina governor, she bowed to liberal pressure and political correctness in removing the Confederate flag from the state capitol flagpole, despite having previously voiced defense for the flag. She was against Donald Trump for most of his 2016 presidential campaign, instead supporting establishment-favored candidates Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz. When Trump won the Republican nomination in a landslide, she said that she would vote for him, but was still "not a fan."[9] She also spread the divisive lie that Trump "chooses not to disavow the KKK", despite him having done so many times. Haley tepidly supported Trump as an employee of his administration, but turned against him after the fraudulent 2020 election. She also holds liberal stances on immigration.[10][11] References
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