I am change, hear me roar!

If you’re a political junkie like me, you love a good knock-down fight. In the political record book, June 8 will go down as the day when women, particularly Republican women, scored a knockout, and boy, did they roar!

Kudos to the winners — Nikki Haley of South Carolina, Meg Whitman and Carly Fiorina of California, and Sharron Angle of Nevada. They all had formidable opponents and should be proud of their victories.

For too long, women have remained underrepresented at almost every level of government. In politics, women are outsiders. I think we all can agree that it’s about time we diversified our political parties. For sure, women can’t do any worse than their male counterparts.

The fact is that even though several of these female candidates were political neophytes, the voters still chose them over typical establishment politicians. However, I think the results of last Tuesday’s primaries were less about gender and more about disgusted voters and their urgent need to bring about better representation.

Let’s face it. The American people are fed up with the arrogance in Washington. In examining these new candidates, it’s obvious that they represent change and aren’t part of the status quo. Tuesday’s winners are great examples of the anti-incumbency fever spreading throughout the nation that has forced voters to embrace fresh faces.

Haley, only 38, is the attractive daughter of Indian immigrants. She was a trailblazer in her own right, becoming the only freshman legislator named to a whip position in the South Carolina General Assembly. After some minor hiccups and whispers of scandal, she is poised to win a runoff and become the Republican nominee for governor in her state.

Whitman, the former CEO of a little company you may all know — eBay — represents a new kind of candidate, one with a background in corporate America and no political experience. I predict that Whitman will defeat former Gov. Jerry Brown and become governor of California.

Neither South Carolina nor California has ever elected a female governor, and wins by Haley and Whitman would make history.