Nikki Haley Announces Tragic News!
Nikki Haley, a former GOP presidential candidate for 2024, shared the tragic news of her father's passing on Father's Day.
"Today, I had to say goodbye to the smartest, sweetest, kindest, most decent man I have ever known," Haley wrote on X. She posted a photo from a February 2023 campaign event in South Carolina, where she had announced her presidential bid.
Haley, who was South Carolina's governor for two terms and served as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations under President Donald Trump, did not disclose her father's age or cause of death in the post.
In January, Haley had temporarily paused her campaign to visit her father in a South Carolina hospital, reported Politico. At the time, he was battling an unspecified type of cancer. Originally from Punjab, India, Randhawa moved to Canada for a Ph.D. at the University of British Columbia and later, in 1969, moved to South Carolina to teach at Voorhees College.
Haley was born three years after her father's relocation to South Carolina.
After exiting the presidential race in March following Super Tuesday losses to Trump, Haley delayed endorsing her former boss until May. "Trump has not been perfect on these policies. I have said that many, many times. But Biden would be a catastrophe. So I will be voting for Trump," she stated.
She added, “Having said that, I stand by what I said in my suspension speech. Trump would be smart to reach out to the millions of people who voted for me, and not assume that they’re just going to be with him.”
At a Bronx rally in late May, Trump acknowledged Haley’s endorsement in an interview with News 12. "I appreciated what she said," Trump commented.
When asked if there was a place for her on his team or ticket, Trump responded, "Well, I think she’s gonna be on our team because we have a lot of the same ideas, the same thoughts."
He continued, "You know, we had a nasty campaign; it was pretty nasty. But she’s a very capable person, and I’m sure she’s going to be on our team in some form. Absolutely."
Following Haley’s endorsement, a surge of high-dollar GOP donors began to rally behind Trump, narrowing the fundraising gap with President Joe Biden, his likely 2024 opponent.
The influx of billionaire donors is especially notable in Silicon Valley, a region that has typically supported Democratic candidates in recent elections.
Trump raised $12 million in a single evening last weekend in San Francisco, a city known for its strong Democratic leanings. The funds came from large-dollar donors linked to Silicon Valley, as reported by Just the News.
In the Bay Area, Silicon Valley is home to numerous tech and venture capital firms. Recently, several prominent figures from this sector have voiced their support for Trump.
“In 2016, the number of people from Silicon Valley I knew who supported Trump was a sample of one, which was Peter [Thiel],” Jacob Helburg, a former Palantir adviser, told Reuters. “Today I count them in the dozens, if not more than that. Over the course of the past six months, we’ve started to see the dam break.”
The $12 million fundraiser was hosted at venture capitalist David Sacks' home, co-hosted by Sacks and fellow venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya.