Source: www.hinduonnet.com
WASHINGTON, DC, USA, June 23, 2009: Namrata Randhawa Haley, the daughter of a Punjabi Sikh immigrant, has announced her candidacy for Republican Party nomination for the Governor of South Carolina, which will go to poll next year.
Nikki, 37, as she is popularly known, is presently a member of the South Carolina House of Representatives. In 2004, Nikki was the first Indian-American Republican to win a State House seat.
If elected, Nikki would be the second Indian American and first women of the community to be the Governor of a State, after Bobby Jindal (who is a Christian), the Governor of Louisiana.
“I know, I am going to make this happen. I am going to win the race,” Nikki told Press Trust of India in an interview at the Capitol Hill, where she attended a fund raising event in her support organised by the Indian American Republican Political Action Committee.
Briefing about her agenda, Nikki said her goal would be to rein in spending and to provide jobs to people in State, to try and improve education, and make health care accessible in South Carolina.
Speaking on the occasion, Tarun Patel, from Asian American Hotel Owners Association, said community is thrilled to see a second Indian American running for Governorship, after Bobby Jindal.