Who are Nikki Haley's children? Former South Carolina Gov's daughter, 25, becomes center of attention at heated GOP debate
MIAMI, FLORIDA: Republican presidential hopeful Nikki Haley and her husband Michael Haley share two children, Rena, born in 1998, and Nalin, born in 2001.
Rena graduated from her mother's alma mater, Clemson University, in 2021, majoring in nursing, as stated in her LinkedIn profile.
The 25-year-old, who is a registered pediatric nurse in South Carolina, suddenly became the focus of the discussion in the third GOP presidential primary debate, which she was attending on November 8 to support her mother.
How did Rena Haley get drawn into the debate?
Vivek Ramaswamy, another GOP primary candidate, had been attacking Nikki Haley throughout the debate, but things took a personal turn when he decided to go after her family during a conversation surrounding TikTok.
"In the last debate, she made fun of me for joining TikTok while her own daughter was actually using the app for a long time, so you might want to take care of your own family first," Ramaswamy told Nikki, with the jibe being aimed at Rena.
A fuming Haley snapped back, "Keep my daughter's name out of your voice. You're just scum."
Nikki Haley rips Vivek Ramaswamy as ‘scum’ in fiery exchange after GOP hopeful calls out her daughter’s TikTok use pic.twitter.com/8NguIdXnPK
— News and Java (@newsandjava) November 9, 2023
The crowd was not pleased with the heated debate taking a personal turn and booed the speakers.
At the end of the event, Rena came to the stage to hug her mom. Ramaswamy swung around the two to get to his wife and children, who also arrived to greet him, reported the Daily Mail.
Vivek Ramaswamy stood by his attack on Rena Haley after the debate
Ramaswamy, who himself has two sons, doubled down on his stance, stating that a candidate's adult child is fair game.
Speaking with CNN, Ramaswamy claimed that it was not a low blow to go after Haley's adult daughter, saying, "I do think that's a fair question to ask about the lack of self-awareness."
"I'm very frustrated with the losing culture in the Republican party," GOP Presidential candidate @VivekGRamaswamy tells me after the 3rd Republican debate. Watch our full conversation: pic.twitter.com/yG3CCqcdM4
— Dana Bash (@DanaBashCNN) November 9, 2023
In an interview with NBC News, Haley said that as a mother, she wanted to defend her daughter.
"I'm a mom. So the second you start saying something about my 25-year-old daughter I'm going to get back my back up. But it's not just about the personal. I just have so many issues with him," she stated with reference to Ramaswamy.