Haley will face off with the second-place finisher, U.S. Rep. Gresham Barrett, in a run-off on June 22. And if she wins the general election in November, she would be the first woman and first racial minority elected governor of South Carolina:
By tapping into populist anger and libertarian rhetoric, Ms. Haley has also emerged as a darling of the national conservative backlash against the political establishment. She also put behind her — at least temporarily — accusations that she had extramarital affairs with two men. She denies the claims, which she calls "politics as usual."I can't agree with a lot of Ms. Haley's politics, but given the circumstances, there's no doubt that her election to governor would be historic: not only is Haley the first Indian American elected official in the state, but South Carolina has the lowest percentage of women elected to office of any state in America.
"Any time you push the establishment, the establishment pushes back," she said in an interview. "Any time you challenge the power and the money that people make, they push back."
The winner of her runoff with Mr. Barrett on June 22 will face the Democratic nominee, State Sen. Vincent Sheheen. The current Republican governor, Mark Sanford, is term-limited and politically crippled after his own extramarital affair ended in scandal.
But already national Republican leaders are heralding Ms. Haley as the presumptive party nominee — and therefore, in this solidly conservative state, as the likely next governor of South Carolina.
At the very least, her election to governor will likely really really annoy folks like state senator Jake Knots, who referred to Haley a "raghead," and would probably love to keep his state's good ol' boys club just the way it is. More here: A few things you may not know about South Carolina Republican star Nikki Haley.
