A 32-year-old Sikh woman has won the run-off election to the South Carolina State Assembly, defeating a sitting American member of 30 years. Nikki Randhawa Haley will be the first Sikh and fifth Indian American to enter a US state legislature.
The comfortable win in the Republican primaries has cleared the way for Haley to enter the House as no Democrat is in the fray in an overwhelmingly Republican district.
For Sikhs, who have been subjected to periodic racial profiling since the 9/11 attacks, Haley's triumph is an important political victory. She has promised to be a spokesperson for Sikhs and other Indian Americans.
Haley defeated Larry Koon, the longest-serving member of the Assembly, who said he lost because of an “anti-incumbency mood spurred by anger at rising property taxes”.
There are very few Indians in the district of 22,000 voters. But it is a part of the constituency of Congressman Joe Wilson, co-chair of the India Caucus.
Born in the US and married to an American, Haley runs an upscale clothing business with an annual turnover of
$1.8 million. She said she faced a lot of questions about her religion during the campaign, including whether Sikhs, because they wore beards and turbans, had anything to do with Osama bin Laden.
{{/usCountry}}$1.8 million. She said she faced a lot of questions about her religion during the campaign, including whether Sikhs, because they wore beards and turbans, had anything to do with Osama bin Laden.
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