I am inspired by Nikki Haley – and as a lifelong progressive Democrat, that is painful to admit. Now that she’s ended her presidential campaign, I’m having complicated feelings.
As an Asian American woman in politics like me, Nikki Haley is a trailblazer and still a rarity. She was the first woman of color ever elected Governor in 2010. Today, more than a decade later, there is only one woman of color Governor anywhere in the country: Michelle Lujan Grisham of New Mexico. (How sad and far behind are we!) Throughout Haley’s presidential run this year as the lone woman candidate, I’ve thought about all the young South Asian girls who saw her and thought: she looks like me. The power of that can’t be overstated, particularly when there are so few Asian American women in elected office.
During the Republican presidential debates, I cheered for Haley when her all-male opponents bullied her and she punched back so charismatically and effectively. Vivek Ramaswamy tried to weaponize her gender against her: “Do you want Dick Cheney in three-inch heels?” She owned it; she one-upped him: “Yes, I’d first like to say they’re five-inch heels and I don’t wear them unless you can run in them.” For every woman who has ever wanted to tell a bully to shut their mouth but couldn’t or didn’t, Haley did it for all of us at that moment.
Trump – the biggest bully of all – has attacked her with birther conspiracy theories, claiming that she, as a daughter of immigrants, is ineligible to run for president. Just to be clear: She was born in South Carolina; she’s eligible to run. On social media, he misspelled and used her given first name Nimrata in quotes to other her. (Haley has always gone by her middle name Nikki.) Like Haley, I’m a daughter of immigrants who grew up in the South. My dad still calls himself “Oriental” because that’s how people refer to him in Texas. As Asian Americans, there are daily reminders that…
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