DIAZ: Nikki Haley is next presidential candidate to watch
Column: In The Know With Abby
It is time for another brutal pre-presidential election season. Currently, with more than a year from the Presidential Election coming on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024, the candidates are about to start coming out of their caves to present themselves as the perfect champion to fix the problems in the U.S.
Former President Donald J. Trump’s decision to run in 2024 has been circulating the news. The latest candidate who could pose a threat to his Grand Old Party (GOP) nomination is former Governor of South Carolina, Nikki Haley.
Though it is too early to tell what candidates will actually gain a footing in the primaries for the presidency, one can surmise that Haley presents an opportunity for Republicans who want to push past the ever-lasting effects of Trump and as a chance to reel in independent voters.
Haley announced her campaign for the 2024 presidency on February 14. As previously mentioned, she has served as the Governor of South Carolina and was a U.S. ambassador in the United Nations. As the daughter of Indian parents, she would be the first female Asian American to run for the GOP nomination.
When describing her upbringing to various media outlets, she says she grew up in a small town in South Carolina which had a strong racial divide between Black and white citizens. She said this, in turn, made being an Indian woman feel more similar to an outsider than any other demographic in the area. In her pursuit to run for public office, she had encountered donors putting her through tests or reproducing 10 years of tax records to ensure she was not related to terrorists.
She has been mislabeled and faced slurs throughout her career, such as being called a raghead by former Sen. Jake Knotts (R-S.C.). Haley was also perceived as a critic of Trump in the earlier years and then transitioned as being more moderate with his administration and willing to work with him during her term as a U.N. Ambassador.
With all that has been said, what does this mean in terms of her appeal as a candidate and what her foreseeable policy stances may be as a result of her lived experiences?
She already played on her immigrant family background in her speech launching her candidacy. Those sentiments could win favor amongst independents and sway Democrats as U.S. demographics are continuing to blend.
Also, having concern and compassion for immigrants in the U.S. have stereotypically been Democratic traits. Her experience in the U.N. demonstrates her knowledge of international diplomacy, which will be a strong selling point for voters if she proves to pull through in the polls.
On a more complex note, she has noted that she has seen evil abroad relating to racism and how the U.S. is plagued with the kind of hate that she has witnessed tearing other countries apart.
Like many, Whoopi Goldberg has noted that it is great Haley is just now understanding this issue — sarcastically, I may add. On issues such as race, many might be able to reflect back to several points of race issues in the U.S. in the recent past, where Haley remained silent when she could have spoken up.
In the grand scheme of the Presidential election, Haley shows promise in being a worthy adversary for Trump as a candidate who can hold her own if she gets past the primaries. The biggest factors in her favor — her upbringing and the likelihood of Democrats not being able to produce a strong candidate of their own.
Maybe she is a candidate that the Rutgers Republican organization would be proud to rally behind. Now, it is clearly too early to confirm any of these conjectures or to even add real substance, such as official policy stances and polling stats, to substantiate them.
The one aspect that no one can really pin until it comes down to the last count is: What do the American people want? What do emerging adults fresh in college or just out, such as Rutgers students, demand from their Presidential candidates?
Only time will reveal if we will go back to emotionally volatile campaign strategies relying on division or finding a new middle ground of innovation and forward-thinking.
Abriana Diaz is a senior in the School of Arts in Sciences majoring in political science and communications and minoring in critical intelligence. Her column, "In The Know With Abby," runs on alternate Mondays.
*Columns, cartoons and letters do not necessarily reflect the views of the Targum Publishing Company or its staff.
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