Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley will take a day off the campaign trail to participate in a personal experience familiar to many Americans.
Haley will be in Charleston, South Carolina, on Saturday, not for a campaign event in the early-voting state she also calls home, but to see her husband, Maj. Michael Haley, off for a year-long deployment starting this week in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, Horn of Africa.
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Members of the 218th Maneuver Enhancement Brigade will partake in a formal deployment ceremony at noon at The Citadel at the Military College of South Carolina, where Nikki Haley will be among many military spouses in attendance to send off their loved ones. Michael Haley is one of approximately 200 soldiers in the South Carolina National Guard set to deploy.
The South Carolina National Guard called on officers earlier this year with Michael Haley's skill set to support the United States Africa Command or AFRICOM, and he answered the call, according to a person familiar with the deployment.
In this March 13, 2023, file photo, Nikki Haley, who officially announced her candidacy from the Republican Party in the 2024 presidential elections, waves with her husband Michael Haley after a campaign event at Horry-Georgetown Technical College in South Carolina.Anadolu Agency via Getty Images, FILE
Nikki Haley's campaign says this is the first time a presidential candidate has had a spouse deployed during the campaign.
"Our family, like every military family, is ready to make personal sacrifices when our loved one answers the call. We could not be prouder of Michael and his military brothers and sisters," she said in a statement last month. "Their commitment to protecting our freedom is a reminder of how blessed we are to live in America."
The deployment marks Michael Haley's second active-duty tour overseas since he joined the National Guard as an officer in 2006. He served in Afghanistan's Helmand Province as part of an agribusiness team in 2013, when his wife was governor of South Carolina.
"This deployment is the reason I joined the National Guard," he said in a statement to The Associated Press at that time. "The only thing that gives me pause is the yearlong deployment away from family. 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."
She often jokes about being a "single mom governor" on the campaign trail.
"He deployed while I was governor, so he left me as a single mom governor," she said earlier this year in Iowa. "And yes, we're still married."
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Nikki Haley's husband has been an integral part of her campaign since she launched her presidential campaign in February, becoming the first major Republican to challenge former President Donald Trump. On the stump, she frequently criticizes President Joe Biden's abilities as commander-in-chief, often condemning how the U.S. withdrew from Afghanistan, and shares her status as a military wife, saying she understands the call to serve.
"I'm blessed because I have always supported every way he wants to serve his country, and he has always supported every way I want to serve my country. So I'm a lucky girl," Haley said in a CNN town hall earlier this month about her husband's upcoming deployment. "To every military spouse, we can do this."
In this April 6, 2023, file photo, Michael Haley talks with supporters during a campaign event for his wife, Republican presidential hopeful Nikki Haley, in Gilbert, S.C.Meg Kinnard/AP, FILE
Former US ambassador to the UN and 2024 Presidential hopeful Nikki Haley speaks about the economy at H&P Rig 488 in Stanton, Texas, on June 8, 2023.Suzanne Cordeiro/AFP via Getty Images
The couple, married for 26 years, met in college and have two adult children, Nalin and Rena.
During the last presidential election cycle, then-Democratic candidate for president Tulsi Gabbard left the campaign trail for two weeks in 2019 to report for a joint training exercise in Indonesia with the Army National Guard.
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Michael Haley was the first first gentleman of South Carolina and has kept the acronym "fgosc" as his Instagram handle.
Sourse: abcnews.go.com
