By Abraham Kenmore
SCDailyGazette.com
Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley has a new job a month after exiting the Republican presidential contest.
Haley, who lives on Kiawah Island, is joining the conservative, Washington, D.C.-based Hudson Institute think tank as the Walter P. Stern Chair. The position, created in 2020, is named for the institute’s longtime chairman, according to a press release Monday.
The Hudson Institute, founded in 1961 in New York state, has a particular focus on foreign policy and security issues.
“When our policymakers fail to call out our enemies or acknowledge the importance of our alliances, the world is less safe,” Haley said in the release. “That is why Hudson’s work is so critical. They believe the American people should have the facts and policymakers should have the solutions to support a secure, free, and prosperous future.”
In 2020, Haley gave a speech at the Hudson Institute supporting capitalism as the world’s best economic system, followed by a discussion with a senior fellow at the think tank. A transcript remains available to view online.
What exactly Haley will be doing for the group is unclear.
The job involves working on foreign policy and national security along with other “key policy” areas, according to a Hudson Institute spokesperson, who did not give specifics. The spokesperson also declined to say how much Haley would be paid or whether the job is considered full time.
Only one other person has held the position: Ken Weinstein, who is a past president and CEO of the Hudson Institute. He currently serves as the institute’s Japan Chair.
Haley, first elected governor of South Carolina in 2010, left during her second term to be then-President Donald Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations, starting in January 2017.
After resigning from that role in October 2018, Haley gave a number of high-dollar speeches before officially jumping into the GOP race for president in February 2023.
In the year leading up to that, she gave 12 speeches that paid at least $100,000 and possibly up to $1 million each, according to a mandated financial report she filed last spring.
The campaign was bruising, particularly after the crowded field became a two-person contest.
Haley questioned the mental competency of Trump and President Joe Biden and called Trump chicken for refusing to debate her. Trump called her “birdbrain” and questioned the whereabouts of her husband, who’s deployed in Africa with the South Carolina National Guard.
She stuck it out longer than expected, refusing calls to drop out even after she lost her home state by 20 percentage points.
Haley ultimately suspended her campaign after Super Tuesday, having won just Vermont and Washington, D.C.
She declined to endorse Trump in her speech, saying he should earn the support of her backers. And she said she would be continuing to advocate for her values outside of the campaign.
A week before announcing her new role with the Hudson Institute, Haley’s campaign sent out a letter thanking those on her mailing list for their support, describing them as a “movement.”
The Hudson Institute previously gave Haley the Global Leadership Award in 2018. Also winning that year was Paul Ryan, then-speaker of the U.S. House. Past recipients include vice presidents during previous GOP administrations, Mike Pence and Dick Cheney, and former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, as well as international leaders.
“Nikki is a proven, effective leader on both foreign and domestic policy,” John Walters, president and CEO of the Hudson Institute, in Monday’s release. “In an era of worldwide political upheaval, she has remained a steadfast defender of freedom and an effective advocate for American security and prosperity. We are honored to have her join the Hudson team.”
Abraham Kenmore is a reporter covering elections, health care and more. He joins the S.C. Daily Gazette from The Augusta Chronicle, where he reported on Georgia legislators, military and housing issues.
S.C. Daily Gazette is part of States Newsroom, the nation’s largest state-focused nonprofit news organization.
