Mega donors are rallying behind former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, as she closed out the last quarter of 2023 doubling her fundraising with a $24 million haul.
Haley’s campaign says it brought in $24 million in the fourth quarter of the year, which is $13 million more than the $11 million she raised in the previous quarter. Prior that, in the second quarter, her campaign brought in $7.3 million.
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Haley’s team, showcasing their grassroots appeal, noted that it has received contributions in the past three months across their three campaign committees from 180,000 donors, including 83,900 new contributors, which they said were “nearly the same number of unique donors in all the previous quarters combined.”
Haley campaign manager Betsy Ankney now believes it is a “two-person race between Nikki Haley and Donald Trump.”
“Nikki is the only Trump alternative with the voter support, the operation, and the resources to go the distance. Our momentum continues to build as we head into 2024,” she added.
This significant increase comes as many establishment figures look to Haley as the alternative to Trump as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis continues to flounder in the polls, and his network around him crumbles. Even some anti-Trump GOP figures have floated Haley as a better alternative than DeSantis to take down the former president.
“She has better prospects than he does because her numbers are going up and his are coming down. Usually, you want to place your bet on someone who is doing better,” Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT) said, according to the Hill.
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Donald Trump Jr. is among those who has warned that the establishment is making a hard push for Haley in the final months of the primary race, particularly as they attempt to frame her as a potential running mate for the former president — a prospect the eldest Trump son has shut down.
He believes Haley opposes Trump’s America First agenda “due to her contrary views on foreign policy, free speech, government spending, and social policy,” as Breitbart News listed out.
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Meanwhile, Haley has defended taking money from establishment figures, going as far as touting the endorsement she received from the Koch-linked Americans for Prosperity Action during the NewsNation debate.
“When it comes to these corporate people that want to suddenly support us, we’ll take it,” Haley said.
“They asked me what my policies are, and I tell them what it is. Sometimes they agree with me, sometimes they don’t, some don’t like how tough I am on China. Some don’t like the fact that I’ve signed pro-life bills. Some don’t like the fact that I may oppose corporate bailouts. That doesn’t matter. That’s who I am,” she claimed.
The news of Haley’s fundraising haul comes less than two weeks ahead of the Iowa caucus, and a breakdown from AdImpact shows Haley and pro-Haley groups spending millions on advertisements. The pro-Haley Super PAC, the SFA Fund, spent 3.3 million on advertisements across the state, while Haley’s individual campaign has spent $1.3 million.
