Like any potential candidate, South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley will face hurdles should she pursue the 2016 Republican presidential nomination.
When Haley won re-election last month in a landslide, speculation increased regarding whether she had bigger aspirations.
As a woman of Indian descent, the 42-year-old Haley has seen her profile rise within a GOP searching for diversity. She's the first female governor of South Carolina, and the youngest active governor in America.
Here are a few of the hurdles Haley could face if she decides to pursue the White House.
1. Haley has sided with conservative Republican governors in opposing the Affordable Care Act and Medicare expansion, despite a growing number of Republican governors who have signed up. She has said that her state "will not expand Medicaid. Ever."
As a result, hundreds of thousands of her poorest constituents are uninsured. But Haley isn’t likely to change her stance.
"Those of us who fought the president's disastrous healthcare plan have watched as predictions of lost coverage, rising costs, and unprecedented dysfunction have come true," Haley said in her Jan. 22, 2014, State of the State Address. "Obamacare is damaging to the country, and it is damaging to South Carolina. ... But as a state, and as an elected government, we will not be victims in this process. We rejected the federal government's less than generous offer to run a state exchange, an offer that would have Washington bureaucrats dictating the exchange and South Carolinians paying for it. ... I pledge to you this: We will continue to fight Obamacare every step of the way."
2. Haley is unwavering is her support of the Second Amendment, and proudly posted a photo of a gun her husband gave her last Christmas. (http://crooksandliars.com/2013/12/santa-brings-nikki-haley-gun). Speaking on the issue during her 2010 gubernatorial campaign, she said:
"Few things are as clearly defined as the right of individual Americans to own and use firearms. The right to bear arms was deemed so critical by our Founders that they spelled it out in absolute terms, and any governmental action that undermines that right is in turn undermining the very freedoms that built our great nation. (http://www.ontheissues.org/governor/Nikki_Haley_Gun_Control.htm)
Her views earned her the endorsement of the NRA during the 2014 election. (https://www.nrapvf.org/articles/20140925/nra-endorses-nikki-haley-for-governor-of-south-carolina)
3. She has a record of backing bills that make abortions more difficult, except in cases where the mother's life is in danger. While in the state's House of Representatives, she voted in favor of the Penalties for Harming an Unborn Child/Fetus law, which criminalized a violent act against a fetus with that of harming the mother. Haley also supported two other measures that forced a woman to see an ultrasound of her unborn child and wait 24 hours before an abortion would be permitted, according to votesmart.org. (http://votesmart.org/candidate/key-votes/47879/nikki-haley#.VJBZSivF9qU)
4. Haley believes in stricter immigration laws. Three years ago, she gave police more authority to check whether people are permitted to work in the U.S. legally, according the Post and Courier. (http://www.postandcourier.com/article/20110627/PC16/306279931)
"(Legal immigrants) come here, they put in their time, they pay the price and they get here the right way," she told the paper then. "What we're saying is this state can no longer afford to support people that don't come here the right way and we are now going to do something about it."
5. Haley enjoys the economic boost spurred by manufacturing jobs from Michelin, BMW, and Boeing. She encourages more businesses to come to South Carolina, but only encourages those who won't unionize.
"It's not something we want to see happen," she told reporters in February 2014. "We discourage any companies that have unions from wanting to come to South Carolina because we don't want to taint the water." (http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/cars/2014/02/20/no-south-carolina-union-jobs/5642031/)
As many people enjoy the perceived benefits of belonging to a union, Haley's position could hurt her chances of winning a national general election.
© 2025 Newsmax. All rights reserved.