Haley gets a good start in uphill battle against Trump

As Indian American Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley prepared to go head-to-head with Donald Trump in New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary, many in the community feel proud at one of theirs vying for the country’s highest office.

Polls indicate that she faces an uphill battle to upset the former president, but she had a good start winning all six votes in Dixville Notch, NH, which kicked off the primary voting at midnight early Tuesday morning.

Of the six votes, four are registered Republicans and two are undeclared voters. The remaining voters in the Granite State will head to the polls later on Tuesday.

Although the small resort community is too small a sample size to signal direction of the voters’ preferences, Haley touted the votes in a post on X, formerly Twitter, early Tuesday morning.

“A great start to a great day in New Hampshire,” the former South Carolina governor wrote. “Thank you Dixville Notch!”

Trump easily won Iowa’s caucuses last week besting both Haley and Florida Gov Ron DeSantis by double digits. Another Trump victory in the Granite State could all but secure him the Republican nomination, according to political observers.

But Haley has boasted more competitive polling in New Hampshire, where unaffiliated voters can cast their ballots in the primary, and she stands out as the leading Trump alternative after DeSantis exited the race over the weekend.

Despite polls showing Haley trailing Trump, she has still vowed to challenge the frontrunner.

In a Monday appearance on Fox News, Haley said “I know the political class wants to say that this race is over,” but voters may have different ideas.

“We don’t do coronations,’ Haley said. “A democracy is about giving people options. We’re in this. We’re going to keep on going.”

Haley is aiming to build momentum for the Feb 24 primary in her home state of South Carolina – if she can last that long.

But the inspiration many Indian Americans draw from seeing one of their own vying for the highest office in the country echoes throughout the community, according to USA Today.

“I am so impressed by her work ethic and the way she worked at her family business at a young age,” Manjari Bose, who moved to the US from the Indian state of West Bengal in 1995, told the newspaper.

When Nikki Haley’s family moved to Bamberg, South Carolina, in 1969, they were the only Indian family in the town of about 2,500 residents.

She would go on to make history as the first female governor of South Carolina and the first Indian American to be appointed to a cabinet-level position as US ambassador to the United Nations in 2016 under Trump.

“I am the proud daughter of Indian immigrants who reminded my brothers, my sister and me every single day how blessed we were to live in this country,” said Haley, as she announced her presidential campaign last February.

READ: Nikki Haley calls Trump and Biden “equally bad” for the nation (January 22, 2024)

Now she’s making history again, this time by going further in the primary race than any Indian American presidential candidate, USA Today noted.

Although Vice President Kamala Harris, the daughter of immigrants from India and Jamaica, made history as the first Indian American vice president, her 2020 presidential run ended before the Iowa and New Hampshire primaries, USA Today noted.

Businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, the other Indian American 2024 candidate − and a dogged opponent of Haley’s − dropped out after Iowa.

Going head-to-head with her former boss on Tuesday in the Granite State, Haley told supporters Monday, “Can you hear that sound? That’s the sound of a two-person race.”

For a population that is less than 2% of the US population, and whose numbers only began to swell in the early 2000s, it’s remarkable how quickly Indian Americans have risen in politics,  Karthick Ramakrishnan, professor of public policy and political science at the University of California, Riverside, was quoted as saying.

The former governor’s rise as a Republican candidate is also noteworthy because “Indian Americans, for the most part, identify with the Democratic Party over the Republican Party,” Ramakrishnan said.

Haley’s candidacy is historic not only because of her country of descent but also for her Sikh upbringing. Her father, who wears a turban, was the president of a local Sikh temple in South Carolina.

Born Nimarata Nikki Randhawa, Haley was raised in the Sikh faith. She later converted to Christianity before her wedding to Michael Haley at age 26.

Dinesh Lokhande, 60, of Westford, Massachusetts, told USA Today he believes Haley represents Indian values. “I feel proud that she has come to this level. Most Indians are very pragmatic, centrist, well informed, take rational decisions,” he said.