Republican leaders tapped South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley to deliver their official response to President Obama’s State of the Union address next week, giving the rising political star her biggest platform yet.
Ms. Haley, in her second term as governor, is considered a good bet to top the lists of Republican vice presidential candidates. She is the youngest governor in the country and the first minority to serve as governor of South Carolina.
“Nikki Haley has led an economic turnaround and set a bold agenda for her state, getting things done and becoming one of the most popular governors in America,” House Speaker Paul D. Ryan, Wisconsin Republican, said in announcing her response. “In a year when the country is crying out for a positive vision and alternative to the status quo, Gov. Haley is the exact right choice to deliver the Republican address to the nation.”
Ms. Haley is the third woman in a row to deliver the Republican response to Mr. Obama, after Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington in 2014 and Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa last year.
Republicans rotate their responses each year among the Senate, the House and their party’s governors. The last Republican governors to deliver the address were Indiana’s Mitch Daniels in 2013 and Virginia’s Bob McDonnell in 2010.
Ms. Haley is the daughter of immigrants from India. She won the governorship in 2010.
• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com.
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