After Khanna, Nikki Haley hints at presidential run
INDIAN-AMERICAN Republican leader Nikki Haley has said that she thinks she can be the ‘new leader‘ who can take the country in a new direction, adding that the US cannot have a second term under Joe Biden as president.
The former Governor of South Carolina and US Ambassador to the UN said she is still working things out on any potential presidential run.
‘I think, stay tuned. Well, I'm not going to make an announcement here,' the 51-year-old leader said when specifically asked if she is going to run for the presidential position.
‘But when you're looking at a run for president, you look at two things. You first look at, does the current situation push for new leadership? The second question is, am I that person that could be that new leader, that, yes, we need to go in a new direction? And can I be that leader? Yes, I think I can be that leader,' Haley said.
Recently, Democrat congressman Ro Khanna said that he is considering a run for a Senate seat. It has sparked rumors that he might be aiming for a presidential run.
Haley, who resigned from the Trump administration in October 2018, said she did extremely well as governor, the first female to serve in the role in South Carolina, and ambassador.
‘As governor, I took on a hurting state with double-digit unemployment, and we made it the best. As ambassador, I took on the world when they tried to disrespect us. I think I showed what I'm capable of at the UN,' she asserted.
‘So, do I think I could be that leader? Yes. But we are still working through things, and we will figure it out. I have never lost a race. I said that then. I still say that now. I'm not going to lose now. But stay tuned,' Haley said.
Haley, the second governor of Indian descent after fellow Republican Bobby Jindal of Louisiana, said it was time to bring new leadership to the Republican Party.
Haley was born Nimrata Randhawa to immigrant Sikh parents in South Carolina. Her father, Ajit Singh Randhawa, and her mother, Raj Kaur, immigrated from Punjab.