The former South Carolina Governor was preparing to campaign in New Hampshire. But that’s now the last thing on anyone’s mind.
And tragedy strikes after Haley is rushed to the hospital.
Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley is coming off a disappointing third place finish in the Iowa caucus.
That’s led her to her next stop, New Hampshire, which will host the first-in-the-nation primary.
But this past Tuesday night, Haley was pushed away from the Granite State to be with her father, Ajit Singh Randhawa, who is in the hospital.
Haley’s campaign confirmed the situation and explained that was the reason why she wasn’t present in New Hampshire the following morning.
She did however return to the state for an event in the town of Rochester.
.@NikkiHaley set to speak at a rally in Rochester, NH in about an hour-and-a-half pic.twitter.com/0jOt5ngjK5
— Jackson Richman (@jacksonrichman) January 17, 2024
The campaign also didn’t deliver any specifics towards Haley’s father’s condition, but he is apparently in his 90s.
An ABC News reporter who had discussions with officials from her campaign, report that Randhawa is “doing OK.”
Randhawa is an Indian man who is from the northern Punjab area of India.
Haley is proud of her father’s ethnic background and has used it to help promote herself and her family throughout her political career.
“I am the proud daughter of Indian immigrants. They came to America and settled in a small southern town. My father wore a turban. My mother wore a sari. I was a brown girl in a black and white world,” Haley said at the 2020 Republican National Convention.
“We faced discrimination and hardship, but my parents never gave into grievance and hate.”
The news of her father’s hospitalization comes at a pivotal time in Haley’s campaign.
While she’s not participating in the Republican primary debates in New Hampshire, she is planning on participating in a variety of other events, including a CNN town hall.
According to RealClearPolitics polling, Haley is in second place in the Granite State at 33%.
Former President Donald Trump is in first place with 46.3% while Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is polling at just 5.8%
This could be one of the last chances Haley has at catching Trump for the Republican nomination.
Stay tuned to The Federalist Wire.
