Nikki Haley and former President Donald Trump’s race to win the most Republican delegates was a highly watched — but ultimately predictable — contest. As Trump won state after state, including Haley’s home, South Carolina, it became increasingly clear that Haley would lose the battle for votes. However, she’d end up a winner in terms of women’s history. After winning her first primary in Washington D.C. on March 4, 2024, she made GOP history as the first woman ever to win the party’s primary in the country’s nearly 250-year history.
Even if Haley hadn’t won any primary elections, the former South Carolina governor still made history as the first woman on a major party ticket to run against a former president. While women had run against former presidents before, their party tickets were smaller sects like the Equal Rights and Libertarian parties. In an unlikely turn of events, it was fellow female trailblazer (and member of Haley’s opposing major party, the Democrats) Hillary Clinton who inspired Nikki Haley to get into politics.
In a 2012 Vogue interview, Haley described watching Clinton speak at a local university in 2003. “She said there will be all of these reasons that people tell you you can’t do it,” the then-governor recalled. “She said there’s only one reason for you to do it, and it’s because you know it’s the right thing. I walked out of there thinking I’ve got to do this.”
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