Nikki Haley's 2 Children: What to Know About Rena and Nalin

The politician is a mother to a daughter and son with her husband Michael Haley

Nikki Haley’s children, Rena and Nalin, may not be interested in pursuing a political career like their mom, but they did support her throughout her 2024 presidential run.

The former Republican Party candidate, who dropped out of the presidential race after Super Tuesday in March 2024, welcomed her two children with her husband Michael Haley after the pair wed in 1996. Her daughter, Rena, was born in June 1998, while her son, Nalin, was born in September 2001.

Though Nikki was raised Sikh, she converted to Christianity when she married Michael and raised her children in the Christian faith. However, she made sure to bring her children around her parents’ Indian church so they could be exposed to both traditions.

Related: What to Know About Nikki Haley's Parents, Ajit Singh and Raj Kaur Randhawa

Nalin spoke about his Christian faith during an interview with Harris Faulkner for Fox News in November 2023. “It plays a role 24/7 all the time, I think especially my mom is my constant reminder,” he said.

“Sometimes I’ll send him my devotional, if I know he’s having a bad day I’ll say this is my devotional today and I’ll send it to both of them,” Nikki added.

Here’s everything to know about Nikki Haley’s children, Rena and Nalin.

Rena Haley, 25

Nikki welcomed her first child, Rena, on June 8, 1998. She grew up in Lexington, South Carolina, and considered herself to have a “normal” childhood, as she explained in one of her YouTube videos.

Though Rena did not follow her mother into a career in politics, she still works in public service as a nurse.

Rena graduated from Clemson University in 2021 with a degree in nursing and a minor in psychology, per her LinkedIn. While she is busy in her career as a pediatric nurse, Rena made it a priority to show up for her mom during her presidential run, especially during debates while Michael was deployed overseas.

“My dad was always that person for my mom during her debates, someone that she could always just pinpoint and just know that she’s okay,” Rena said during the Fox News interview. “She’s got that good energy. And so that’s kind of the role that I took on with my dad. Being gone was being at all the debates and being that person for her that she sees and just a familiar face.”

During one of those debates, one of Nikki’s rival candidates, Vivek Ramaswamy, brought her daughter into the conversation, which Nikki quickly shut down.

“In the last debate she made fun of me for actually joining TikTok, well her own daughter was actually using the app for a long time so you might want to take care of your family first before preaching to anybody else,” Ramaswamy said.

“Leave my daughter out of your voice,” she replied. “You’re just scum.”

"Look, I'm a mom. I'm a mom. So the second that you go and you start saying something about my 25-year-old daughter, I'm going to get my back up,” Nikki later said after the debate, per NBC News.

In her personal life, Rena got married on April 15, 2023, to her college boyfriend Joshua Jackson. The two later honeymooned in St. Lucia and bought a house together.

Nalin Haley, 22

Nikki’s second child, Nalin, was born on Sept. 6, 2001. The youngest Haley grew up in South Carolina with his sister, where he played basketball for his high school team.

“So much fun watching Nalin play yesterday and lead his team in scoring for a one point victory,” Nikki wrote on X after a February 2019 game. “Both Nalin and Michael put up with my loud cheering/coaching all season long!”

In September 2023, Nalin started his senior year of college at Villanova University.

“We moved Nalin back to school for the final time,” Nikki wrote on Instagram to mark the occasion. “Hard to believe it is his Senior Year. Thanks to Rena and Josh for helping with the move while their dad is away. ❤️.”

Nalin doesn’t want to follow his mother into politics, but like his sister, he stayed by his mom’s side during her campaign. He worked directly with her team during the summer, and once he returned to school in the fall, he continued to help with small donation campaign fundraising.

As her campaign continued, Nalin started to become more defensive of his mother, shooting insults at other previous candidates who have since sided with Donald Trump in the race for the Republican nomination.

“We had a lot of them go up to New Hampshire, and I saw Trump standing side by side, he was next to Senator Judas — excuse me, Senator Scott,” he said after a February 2024 campaign event in South Carolina, per The New York Times, seemingly referring to Senator Tim Scott’s backing of Trump despite Nikki being the one who nominated him to the Senate.

Nikki joked that she would “deal with [him] later.” Despite his outspoken opinions, Nikki has expressed how proud she is of both of her children.

"I'm proud of them," she told Fox News in November 2023. "The goal was always to make sure we had that family dinner and that they knew we were there."

For more People news, make sure to sign up for our newsletter!

Read the original article on People.