Former SC Gov. Nikki Haley to speak at Citadel Republican Society in Charleston
Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor who has been traveling the country ahead of a possible 2024 presidential bid, will be honored next month in her home state by The Citadel Republican Society.
Haley, who was the first female and Indian American elected governor of South Carolina, will now become the first woman to receive the Nathan Hale Patriot Award.
The award is given at the society’s annual Patriot Dinner, which has a track record of honoring and hosting national, high-profile Republican figures.
Past honorees include former President Donald Trump, former Vice President Mike Pence, Trump’s former adviser Steve Bannon and South Carolina U.S. Sens. Tim Scott and Jim DeMint.
Haley served as governor of South Carolina from 2011-2017. And despite first coming out as a vocal critic of candidate Donald Trump, Haley would go on to serve as President Trump’s U.S. ambassador to the United Nations for two years before resigning from the post in 2019.
Since her departure from the Trump administration, speculation has swirled about Haley’s possible next steps.
She moved back to South Carolina in 2019, resigned from Boeing’s board of directors in 2020 because she opposed the aerospace company’s decision to seek government aid during the height of the coronavirus pandemic and this year launched a conservative political action committee.
Along with Scott and Pence, Haley also laid out what she sees as the future of the Republican Party in the “Time for Choosing” series hosted by the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library. Over the summer, Haley headlined the Republican Party of Iowa’s biggest event of the year, a move that could endear her to voters in the state that gets to weigh in first on presidential nominees.
Haley’s upcoming Dec. 2 appearance in Charleston was announced in a press release Wednesday by The Citadel Republican Society following a Tuesday afternoon post on the group’s Facebook page.
In addition to Haley, the group has also invited three other GOP women to speak at The Patriot Dinner, which acts as an annual fundraiser to help pay for club members to attend the Conservative Political Action Conference each year in Washington, D.C.
According to a Facebook post from The Citadel Republican Society, the following state lawmakers are also invited as guest speakers: State Sen. Sandy Senn, R-Charleston; and State Reps. Lin Bennett, R-Charleston, and Sylleste Davis, R-Berkeley.
The Nathan Hale Patriot Award is given each year in recognition of “a national, state or local official who embodies the selfless leadership of Nathan Hale.”
Hale was an American soldier who was executed by the British at age 21. Before he was hanged in 1776 for spying on British troops, he uttered what have now become his famous last words: “I only regret that I have but one life to lose for my country.”
The award itself is a massive revolutionary war musket, which past honorees have raised over their heads upon receiving it.
Tickets for the Patriot Dinner were listed between $30 and $1,250 on an Eventbrite ticketing page on the Republican society’s website.
The dinner will be at The Citadel Holliday Alumni Center, at 69 Hagood Ave.
This story was originally published November 10, 2021 at 5:03 PM.
