Nikki Haley's 2024 presidential campaign may be over, but it still made history. Here's how.
Nikki Haley's presidential campaign -- and the unique wins she mustered along the way -- doesn't mark the first time she has made history.
She was the first female governor of South Carolina, elected to two terms to lead the Palmetto State. Haley, 52, was also the first Indian American to be appointed to a cabinet-level position as former President Donald Trump's ambassador to the United Nations.
For months, Haley, whose campaign has often been described as quixotic, was seen as the Plan B candidate by moderate Republicans, someone who could return the party back to traditional Republican values and away from the grip of the nativist MAGA movement championed by her rival and likely nominee, former President Donald Trump.
Even in the wake of Haley dropping out of the 2024 race for the White House on Wednesday, her presidential campaign itself has also notched several firsts, including being the first woman to win two Republican primaries.
As she suspended her campaign with a speech in South Carolina, Haley said she had "no regrets."
"The campaign was grounded in my love for our country. Just last week, my mother, a first generation immigrant, got to vote for her daughter for president," she said. "Only in America. I am filled with the gratitude for the outpouring of support we've received from all across our great country. I said I wanted Americans to have their voices heard. I have done that."
Haley's supporters have said they don't want to see Trump, who is charged with 91 counts in four criminal cases, as the Republican nominee. A Fox News Voter Analysis survey of more than 2,400 South Carolina Republican primary voters also found that 6-in-10 Haley voters (59%) would not support Trump in the general election if he becomes the GOP nominee.
But even as the former governor has bowed out from challenging Trump, here's what you need to know about how her campaign broke unprecedented political ground.
Haley was the first woman to win a Republican primary in US history
After a series of primary losses to Trump, Haley bested her former boss by winning the Republican primary in Washington, D.C. She won 63 percent to Trump’s 33 percent, becoming the first woman ever to win a Republican presidential primary.
“It’s not surprising that Republicans closest to Washington dysfunction are rejecting Donald Trump and all his chaos,” said Olivia Perez-Cubas, Haley’s national campaign spokeswoman, in a statement following the win.
Up until the Washington race, D.C., Haley had lost eight eight consecutive contests to the former president in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, South Carolina, the Virgin Islands, Michigan, Missouri and Idaho. But her win still marked a major victory for Republican women.
Then on Super Tuesday, as voters in 16 states and one territory — American Samoa — made their preferences known for presidential nominees on Super Tuesday, Haley won a second primary in Vermont.
Haley isn't the first Republican woman to run for president. That list includes Elizabeth Dole (2000), Michele Bachmann (2012), Carly Fiorina (2016).
Haley was the first woman to run against a former president as a major party candidate
Running against Trump, who has a strong base of support in his party, is like running against a de facto incumbent, a daunting challenge.
If Trump wins the 2024 presidential election, he’ll be the first president in 131 years ? since President Grover Cleveland ? to return for a second term four years later.
A handful of defeated presidents, such as Ulysses S. Grant, Theodore Roosevelt, Herbert Hoover, Martin Van Buren and Millard Fillmore, have sought to make a comeback, but they were all unsuccessful.
Some of these presidents also had female opponents. But none were from a major party.
In 1872, Victoria Claflin Woodhull, the first woman to run for U.S. president, was the candidate of the Equal Rights Party. Her opponents were Grant, a Republican, and Horace Greeley, a Democrat, according to Center for American Women and Politics.
Belva Ann Bennett Lockwood, ran twice for president under the banner of the Equal Rights Party in 1884 and in 1888. In 1884, the major party candidates were Cleveland, a Democrat and James G. Blaine, a Republican. She also ran in 1888, when the election was decided by the Electoral College, with Cleveland winning the popular vote and Benjamin Harrison, a Republican, winning the electoral vote and the presidency.
Haley was the first Indian American presidential candidate to make it to Super Tuesday
When Nikki Haley’s family moved to Bamberg, South Carolina, in 1969, they were the only Indian family in the town of about 2,500 residents.
“I am the proud daughter of Indian immigrants who reminded my brothers, my sister and me every single day how blessed we were to live in this country,” said Haley, as she announced her presidential campaign last February.
She’s also the only Indian American presidential candidate to have been on the ballot in more than 20 states.
Although Vice President Kamala Harris, the daughter of immigrants from India and Jamaica, made history as the first Indian American vice president, her 2020 presidential run ended before the Iowa Caucuses and New Hampshire primaries. Businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, the other Indian American 2024 candidate ? and a dogged opponent of Haley's ? dropped out immediately after the Iowa Caucuses.
In her speech suspending her campaign, Haley did not endorse Trump, the likely nominee, but she said she wished him well.
"It is now up to Donald Trump to earn the votes of those in our party and beyond who did not support him," she said. "I hope he does that at as the best politics is about bringing people into your cause, not turning them away, and our conservative cause badly needs more people. This is now his time for choosing."
Swapna Venugopal Ramaswamy is a White House Correspondent for USA TODAY. You can follow her on X @SwapnaVenugopal
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Nikki Haley's 2024 presidential campaign made history. Here's how.
