Thaindian News

By Meena Kar
Nov 3, (THAINDIAN NEWS) Nikki Haley is set to become the second Indian-American to become the governor of an American state as she was selected as the Governor of South Carolina on Tuesday. The controversy prone former Governor Mark Sanford will remain in his position till January when his tenure ends. The Tea Party-backed Republican lawmaker is the second Indian-American after Bobby Jindal to gain the position. She won with 52% of the votes against State senator Vincent Sheheen with 85% of the precincts reporting.

Nikki Haley was backed by Sarah Palin throughout her political campaign that was aimed to dislodge those who had power and misused it in her state’s capitol. Her campaign also absorbed the unproved accusations regarding her private life that included infidelity and financial crunches. Vincent Sheheen had also used some of the controversies regarding her personal taxes as an issue against her. Her race against Vincent Sheheen became closely fought towards the end and not many could have predicted that the 38-year old mother of two would edge out the like of Democrat Vincent Sheheen.

Experts feel that one of the biggest advantages that Nikki Haley had was that the national political climate was in favor of the Republicans. Some also felt that her campaign that wanted to control the state’s spending, reject the federal assistance and promise to fight a recent health care reform at the Supreme Court appealed to the public greatly. Born to Sikh immigrants, Nikki Haley is now a Methodist and started off as a bookkeeper in her teens. She grew up in rural Bamberg County and both her parents are teachers.