Haley has vehemently denied allegations of inappropriate relationships with blogger Will Folks and lobbyist Larry Marchant, and she said Friday that she would resign if she is elected and anyone finds proof she had an extramarital affair.
She refused to say what would constitute proof, calling that moot. Her campaign declined an interview request Friday.
Folks wrote on his political blog that he and Haley had an inappropriate physical relationship when he worked for her in 2007.
More recently, Marchant, a former lobbyist for one of Haley’s opponents, said he had a one-night stand with her in a Salt Lake City hotel room during a school-choice conference.
On Thursday, state Sen. Jake Knotts used an ethnic slur to refer to Haley, whose parents immigrated from India.
“We’ve got a raghead in Washington, we don’t need a raghead in the Statehouse,” Knotts said on an Internet political talk show. He later apologized, saying the remarks were a joke.
Haley, who was born a Sikh and describes herself as a Methodist, called it another shameful attack.
It’s not clear whether the flaps are damaging the married mother of two, who has been endorsed by former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin. Her rivals had said internal polls show her leading going into Tuesday’s primary.
The allegations come a year after Gov. Mark Sanford, Haley’s political mentor, famously ditched his security detail to rendezvous with his Argentine mistress and returned to confess.
Sanford’s ex-wife, Jenny, who divorced him over his affair, also defended Haley on Friday.
“I have watched with revulsion the spectacle that is now surrounding the governor’s race. Our state is better than this,” she said in a statement.
