Nikki Haley, 51, former governor of South Carolina and former President Donald Trump’s first ambassador to the United Nations, is the political heavyweight among the three Indian-American candidates.
Outsider to politics and tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, 37, whose parents migrated to the US from Kerala, entered the fray in February 2023 and has, surprisingly, jumped to third position, behind just Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, in the opinion polls for the Republican nomination.
Hirsh Vardhan Singh, 38, the latest entrant in the race, has worked with the New Jersey Republican Party and says that he is a ‘lifelong Republican’. He also calls himself a “pureblood” for never taking the Covid-19 vaccine.
Rival Democrats have often described Singh as “Trump on steroids”.
While it’s too early to predict if they will be in the reckoning in July next year at the Republican national convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to formally select the party’s presidential nominee; Ramaswamy and Haley both appear to be safe on the polling and fundraising fronts.
Indian-Americans are excited and energized that three members of the community have become visible faces in the race for the highest office in the US and many are following the campaigns closely regardless of their political affiliations.
Here’s all you need to know about the three candidates:
Vivek Ramaswamy
★Ramaswamy, 37, is trailing behind only Trump and DeSantis as no. 3 in the Republican contestants for the presidential elections.
★In 2015, his biotech firm Axovant became the biggest biotech IPO ever, in the history of the US.
★Ramaswamy was also behind the biggest biotech IPO of 2016, Myovant Sciences.
★He was born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, to parents who had immigrated to the US from Kerala.
★He was the valedictorian of his high school and a nationally ranked tennis player.
★He went on to graduate in Biology from Harvard University with the highest distinction and also went to Yale Law School, while working at a hedge fund.
★Roivant Sciences, a biotech company that developed five FDA-approved drugs, was started by Ramaswamy.
★Ramaswamy’s political campaign focuses on the “New American dream”. Building a meritocracy, advocating for free speech and ending the US’ dependence on China.
Hirsh Vardhan Singh
★Hirsh Vardhan Singh, 38, is an Indian-American engineer and has worked in close association with the New Jersey Republican party.
★Singh’s 2024 bid is not his first shot at entering American politics.
★In 2017 and 2021, he ran in the Republican primaries for the position of the governor of New Jersey.
★He ran twice for a seat in the US Congress, once in 2018 for the House of Representatives and once in 2020, for a seat at the Senate.
★His political stance includes standing up against experimental vaccines being pushed by Big Pharma, and against censorship and privacy breaches by Big Tech. Singh also believes that Big Tech is limiting innovations by inviting government control on new technologies like artificial intelligence.
★He is also pro-life, which means he’s opposed to abortions.
Nikki Haley
★Haley, 51, boasts of never having lost an election.
★She was South Carolina’s first female and first ethnic minority governor. When she ran for governor in 2010, she was backed by Sarah Palin, who was the first woman to appear on a Republican presidential ticket.
★Earlier, in 2004, she had also won a seat in the state House of Representatives, and was re-elected in 2008.
★Haley’s parents were Punjabi Sikh immigrants who owned a small foreign goods store in South Carolina, which eventually scaled up to a successful clothing and gifting business.
★Nikki Haley is not her birth name, it is originally Nimrata Nikki Randhawa.
★As a Republican, Haley is in favor of tax cuts, immigration controls, and abortion restrictions.
★Haley was often at odds with her boss Trump. She did not support Trump’s voter fraud allegations in the 2020 Presidential elections, nor did she back him after the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol. She in fact blamed Trump for it.
★Haley is being supported by the super PAC called Stand For America Fund Inc., which has raised $18.7 million between April and June this year.
★Wealthy Republican donors like billionaires Kenneth Langone, Alice Walton and Kenneth Fisher have pooled in money for her presidential campaign.
This news article provides an overview of the three Indian-American candidates vying for the Republican nomination in the 2024 US Presidential race. Nikki Haley, Vivek Ramaswamy, and Hirsh Vardhan Singh are the three candidates in the spotlight. Haley, a former governor and ambassador, is considered a political heavyweight. Ramaswamy, a tech entrepreneur, has gained popularity in opinion polls. Singh, an engineer, has worked with the New Jersey Republican Party. The article also provides key details about each candidate’s background, achievements, and political stances. Indian-Americans are closely following the campaigns of these candidates, regardless of their political affiliations.
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