The Real Reason You Don't See Much Of Nikki Haley's Husband

Even if he isn't often seen alongside her, Nikki Haley's husband, Michael Haley, has always played a big role in her life, something she doesn't get tired of saying. "I would be lost without him," the former governor of South Carolina wrote in her 2012 memoir, "Can't Is Not an Option: My America Story." Without meaning to, Michael has influenced some of her most critical political stances, most notably her position on abortion. "I am unapologetically pro-life, not because the Republican Party tells me, but because my husband was adopted, and I live with that blessing every day," she told a crowd in May 2023, according to U.S. News & World Report.

While Nikki has made her affection for her husband abundantly clear throughout the years, his absence from her side on the 2024 campaign trail hasn't gone unnoticed. During a February rally, candidate Donald Trump questioned Michael's whereabouts to take a jab as his opponent for the G.O.P. presidential nomination. "Where's your husband? Oh, he's away. He's away. What happened to her husband? What happened to her husband? Where is he?" Trump said after claiming Nikki had promised never to run against him in the presence of her husband, NBC News reported. "He's gone! He knew. He knew."

Trump's comments drew widespread attention, something Nikki has been using in an attempt to revive an old criticism of the former president. That's because Michael has very good — and patriotic — reasons for being unable to accompany Nikki during her presidential campaign. 

Major Michael Haley, a major in the South Carolina Army National Guard, was deployed to Africa in June 2023, four months after Nikki Haley announced her bid for presidency. "We have both lived a life of service, and so when he goes off to deploy, my support is completely with him," Nikki said at a deployment event, the AP reported. With Michael's mission with the 218th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade in the Horn of Africa set to last a year, he will be gone for most of the campaign.

This isn't the first time Michael, who joined the National Guard in 2006, has been deployed. Then a captain, he was also sent to Afghanistan in 2013, when Nikki was South Carolina governor. "We are a proud military family who understands the sacrifices any family goes through when a loved one is serving his or her country," she said in a statement, Politico reported. His deployment also lasted a year. Michael was proud to serve his country. "It is important to me to be able to give back," he said in a statement to NBC News.

However, he admittedly struggled with the thought of being away from Nikki and their two children. "But in the end, I can't help but to think giving one year along with my fellow soldiers, as many have done before me, to secure a life of freedom for my family is well worth all that comes with it."

Before joining the National Guard, Michael Haley worked with his in-laws. Nikki Haley's mother, Raj Kaur Randhawa, opened a clothing business, Exotica International, in 1976, a few years after she and her husband, Ajit Singh Randhawa, moved to the U.S. from Canada in 1969. Nikki had already worked for the family business when she met Michael at Clemson University in 1989, having started as the bookkeeper at 13. She re-joined Exotica International after graduating in 1994 and eventually brought Michael along.

This time around, Nikki took up the position of chief financial officer, while Michael came on as the manager for its menswear department. By then, Michael's relationship with his in-laws was a lot better. The Randhawas were initially against Nikki's marriage to Michael. As devout Sikh Indians, they wanted their daughter to marry someone with a similar background, the New York Times noted. And Michael was as opposite from that as they come. He was an American Methodist raised in the foster care system until age 4, when he was adopted by Bill and Carole Haley.

But they came around. In 1996, Nikki and Michael tied the knot in ceremonies that honored both cultures, according to a 2010 New York Times profile. Later on, Michael, along with Nikki, even lent the Randhawas a hefty sum to help them out of debt, Forbes reported. And while working to bail out the Randhawas, Michael and Nikki made a lot of money, too.