Former Lexington resident Nikki Haley is used to surprising people.

When she announced her run for the state House of Representative, she faced the longest-serving member, Larry Koon of Lexington.

Although he was considered unbeatable, she won.

The same thing happened when she ran for governor – twice. She simply outworked her opponents.

When she announced in the Oval Office Tuesday that she will leave as US Ambassador to the United Nations at the end of the year, it came as a surprise to the national media but not to President Trump.

The President said she told him 6 months ago she thought the end of the year would be time for someone else to step up at the UN.

Congressman Joe Wilson of Springdale said she did a phenomenal job pushing for Russian sanctions, standing up to the murderous regime in Iran and withdrawing from the UN Human Rights Council which wastes US tax dollars targeting Israel.

Where she is going and what she will do is not yet known. Those of us who have known her since she first came to Lexington almost 2 decades ago suspect this is far from the end of her political career.,

President Trump sat beside her Tuesday in yellow arm chairs in front of the Oval Office fireplace and said she told him when she planned to leave.

It was her idea, not his.

“We will miss you,” the president told Mrs. Haley.

She said the last 8 years as SC governor and UN ambassador has been great but a time comes when public officials need to step aside.

What is surprising is that she seems to have no other public office in mind now although she has been rumored as a candidate for other national office including the Presidency.

Ms. Haley called herself a “lucky girl” to be picked for the UN post, especially after criticizing Mr. Trump during the 2016 campaign.

Mrs. Haley lived here with her husband Michael and their 2 children in Governor’s Grant on Old Chapin Road in Lexington.

As governor, she led the move to removed the Confederate battle flag from in front of the Statehouse.

That was spurred by 9 worshippers’ deaths at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston by, ironically, another former Lexington resident, white supremacist Dylann Roof in 2015.

What Mrs. Haley does next will probably come as a surprise, too. Stay tuned.