Nikki has observed that her bond with Michael is one of the things motivating her to pursue the presidency.
“I’m doing this for my husband and his military brothers and sisters.
They need to know their sacrifice matters,” she commented at a campaign event, perCBS News.
The couple have been together since 1989 and married since 1996.
How fun it has been!"
Nikki was 17 at the time, and Michael was 19.
Once Nikki discovered Michael was already attached, she abandoned any romantic aspirations.
Then fate intervened, giving Nikki and Michael a second chance.
Although Michael’s then-girlfriend was with him during the festivities, his attention was directed toward Nikki.
“Soon after, Michael was single, and he expressed his romantic interest in Nikki.
This proposition was a dealbreaker for the would-be South Carolina governor.
“I don’t date people who also date other people,” she explained to him in hermemoir.
This revelation caused Michael to reconsider, and he embarked on an exclusive relationship with Nikki.
As a sophomore, he even decided to switch schools and join Nikki at Clemson.
They later got engaged at the botanical garden on the university’s campus.
After so much time together, separations have been difficult for the couple.
In summer 2023,Michael deployed to Africa for a year.
But that wasn’t the first time they’d been apart.
Up to that point, his first name was William, and he preferred Bill as a nickname.
After learning his middle name was Michael, Nikki thought this name suited him better.
“He looks like a Michael,” she later asserted.
Nikki and her friends consistently called him Michael, and the new name stuck.
The former South Carolina governor has a preference for her own middle name as well.
Ahead of their September 1996 wedding, both Michael and Nikki used their middle names in a newspaper announcement.
