6/30/2004 » Politics

Nikki Haley, a.k.a. Nimrata Randhawa-Haley, won her runoff for a seat in the South Carolina state legislature last Thursday with 55% of the vote (via Inside the Mind of Madness).

32-year-old Haley, the owner of an upscale clothing store, is a first-time candidate, a Republican in a conservative district where there was no Democratic opponent. She ousted the longest-serving incumbent, Larry Koon, in a property tax revolt and was endorsed by one of the local papers as a pro-business candidate.

Haley, who is Sikh, battled slurs both religious...

A woman stood outside a polling place last Tuesday holding a Nikki Haley sign. A man who was driving away rolled down his window to shout at her, “I hope your children worship cows!”... Haley campaign manager B.J. Boling received the following e-mail: “Please remember that she is a Buddhist... I can only vote for a Christian...”

.... and ethnic:

A half-page ad ... proclaimed ... “Nimrata N. Randhawa” once voted in a Democratic primary. Below that was an asterisk with the insinuating footnote, “As the opponent’s name appears on the voter registration files. A different name appears on the ballot.” (Implication: She ain’t from around here, and she’s trying to hide it.) Nikki Haley uses a different name now because she’s married...

Koon played the race card but lost anyway, and he’s still a wee bit bitter:

“I got very little reason to offer anything to her,” Koon said. “I really think they (voters) don’t know what they got.” His campaign staff ran ads using her maiden name Randhawa and pointing out she is of Indian descent and has voted in Democratic primary elections... Koon said he was not aware of the tactics of his campaign staff.

By many accounts, Haley out-hustled the incumbent for her victory. But it’s interesting how completely she’s been able to pass: she’s fair-skinned with a dual-use nickname and an Anglo surname. Similarly, it’s not widely known that Ralph Nader is of Lebanese origin, Darrell Issa is Arab-American, and Steve Jobs is half Egyptian. In contrast, Kumar Barve, the first Indian-American state legislator, who’s been serving for 14 years in the Maryland state legislature, had none of those advantages.