For months, the underdog in the presidential primary refused to concede defeat. He fought hard in state after state, even as the front-runner amassed a delegate advantage that would be virtually impossible to overcome. The extended feud between Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton in 2016, which turned more bitter as time passed, left behind Democratic divisions that would ultimately contribute to their party\u2019s crushing general election loss. Eight years later, some Republicans fear that history may soon repeat itself.<\/p>\n
Nikki Haley\u2019s path to the GOP nomination is rapidly shrinking following recent losses in Iowa and New Hampshire. But she\u2019s vowing to stay in the race indefinitely, backed by thousands of committed donors, a key slice of the party\u2019s moderate wing and a new willingness to attack the mental fitness and legal baggage of 2024 Republican front-runner Donald Trump. And the harder Haley fights, the more Republican officials fear she may hurt his long-term prospects in the all-but certain general election ahead against Democratic President Joe Biden.<\/p>\n
Former Trump adviser David Urban described Haley\u2019s continued presence as a distraction, a drain on resources and a source of frustration. \u201cNobody on Trump\u2019s team thinks (a Biden matchup) is going to be easy. It\u2019s going to be a bumpy road. It\u2019s going to be a tough race. They want to hit the starter\u2019s pistol and get going,\u201d Urban said. \u201cPeople need to start coming together and working together. But right now, none of that is happening because she\u2019s still out there stoking the anti-Trump fire.\u201d I am not going anywhere\u2019<\/p>\n
Of course, Haley is in a much different position than Sanders was during the epic 2016 campaign. The Vermont senator actually won contests, including his 22-point victory in the New Hampshire primary. Unless she manages a dramatic turnaround, Haley\u2019s 11-point deficit in the same state last month may prove to be the high point of her presidential bid. Haley decided to skip Nevada\u2019s presidential caucuses next Thursday in favor of a state primary election two days earlier that does not award delegates. Trump could embarrass Haley in her home state of South Carolina later in the month, where the former president has a loyal following.<\/p>\n
A Washington Post-Monmouth University poll on Thursday found Trump with a 26 point lead in the state. Yet in practical terms \u2013 and in Haley\u2019s calculus \u2013 the GOP primary has barely begun. Just two states have voted so far in a process that will ultimately span all 50 before concluding at the GOP\u2019s national nominating convention in July. \u201cI am not going anywhere,\u201d she told reporters on Thursday. \u201cWe have a country to save. And I am determined to keep on going the entire way. As long as we can keep closing that gap, I\u2019m gonna keep staying in.\u201d<\/p>\n
Such comments increasingly draw Trump\u2019s ire as he\u2019s eager to move past the primary completely and focus on Biden. At roughly the same time Haley was speaking, Trump was attacking her on social media. One post he shared said, \u201cNikki Haley is bought and paid for by our political enemies,\u201d and another described Haley as \u201cdeeply disliked\u201d by a growing number of Americans. Some Republicans worry that Trump\u2019s preoccupation with Haley, whom he frequently calls \u201cbirdbrain,\u201d might further alienate moderate voters and suburban women.<\/p>\n
HALEY ASSETS GROWING<\/strong><\/p>\n Haley is getting stronger by some measures. Her campaign has raised $5 million from small-dollar donors in the days since she finished in second place in New Hampshire, according to spokesperson Nachama Soloveichik. She\u2019s also in the midst of a four-state fundraising tour that will feature at least 10 closed-door events with wealthy donors. This week\u2019s initial swing through New York netted more than $1.5 million, Soloveichik said.<\/p>\n Republican fundraiser Eric Levine, who co-hosted one of the New York events, said the few hundred Haley donors who gathered earlier in the week \u201cremain as committed to Haley as ever.\u201d Haley campaign manager Betsy Ankney highlighted the candidate\u2019s commitment to the race during a meeting with some of the GOP\u2019s leading donors earlier in the week in Florida, according to two Republican officials in the room granted anonymity to share private discussions. Trump senior adviser Susie Wiles also delivered a presentation to the group, which was designed to highlight the former president\u2019s tightening grip on the nomination.<\/p>\n Many major donors remain critical of Trump, but some of the biggest would-be Haley supporters are essentially in a holding pattern ahead of South Carolina\u2019s Feb. 24 primary. They believe she is essentially fully funded for the rest of the month and there\u2019s little more they can do in the short term, according to the officials. Two of the group\u2019s founders, billionaire hedge fund managers Ken Griffin and Paul Singer, each donated $5 million to Haley\u2019s 2024 bid in recent weeks, according to federal filings made public this week.<\/p>\n Trump also continues to report strong fundraising totals. But his legal troubles are consuming a huge portion of his donors\u2019 dollars. Two of Trump\u2019s political action committees spent roughly $50 million in donor funds on the former president\u2019s legal fees last year, according to federal filings made public this week. And his legal costs are continuing to grow.<\/p>\n HALEY\u2019S AGGRESSIVE STRATEGY<\/strong><\/p>\n Haley has begun to ratchet up attacks against Trump, a deliberate strategy designed to highlight the former president\u2019s glaring liabilities, including his legal baggage and his age. The campaign lumped Trump and Biden together in a new attack ad this week calling them \u201cGrumpy Old Men.\u201d She\u2019s also working to link the 77-year-old Trump\u2019s refusal to debate to questions about his mental acuity. And in a Wednesday interview on the \u201cBreakfast Club\u201d radio program, she blamed Trump for the state of the nation\u2019s politics.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s made it chaotic,\u201d she said. \u201cHe\u2019s made it self-absorbed.\u201d Her message appears to be resonating with a key group of swing voters who play a pivotal role in general elections. In New Hampshire\u2019s recent primary, for example, Trump won a decisive victory against Haley backed by his popularity among traditional Republican voters. But he lost a majority of moderates and about two-thirds of those who identify as independents, according to AP VoteCast. He also lost about 6 in 10 who have college degrees, and he\u2019s shown a persistent vulnerability among voters living in suburbs.<\/p>\n But the Republican base is still decidedly behind Trump. And a growing group of Republican elected officials on Capitol Hill are calling for Haley to quit the race. Republican National Committee Chair Ronna McDaniel said recently that it was time to unite behind Trump. B.J. Hopper, an 81-year-old self-described \u201cNever Trumper, is doubtful that Haley will catch Trump, but she attended Thursday\u2019s stop in South Carolina\u2019s capital city because she\u2019s trying to be hopeful. \u201cIt\u2019d be a miracle,\u201d Hopper said of a Haley victory in the state\u2019s upcoming primary.<\/p>\n As much of the attention shifts to South Carolina, Haley\u2019s campaign insists her goal there isn\u2019t to win, but simply to show growth compared to New Hampshire. She\u2019s building campaign infrastructure in next-up Michigan and several states that host primary contests on March 5, also known as \u201cSuper Tuesday.\u201d The Haley campaign has already rolled out leadership teams and \u201cWomen for Nikki\u201d chapters in all 15 Super Tuesday states. A pro-Haley super PAC is also coordinating get-out-the-vote efforts in South Carolina, Michigan and multiple super Tuesday states. That\u2019s in addition to the Koch-backed conservative group, Americans for Prosperity, which has devoted its army of grassroots activists on the ground in several key states to helping Haley.<\/p>\n Specifically, the group is knocking on doors, sending pro-Haley mail and running online ads in Tennessee, North Carolina, Arkansas and Virginia. But the Koch network will not continue to support her if it determines there is no path to victory, according to conversations between Koch officials and donors at a private retreat last week in California, where Haley discussed the state of her presidential campaign during a short video call. During a separate session with top donors, AFP Action senior advisers Emily Seidel and Michael Palmer reaffirmed the group\u2019s decision to endorse Haley given that she is the last Trump alternative standing, according to an official with direct knowledge of the conversations who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss strategy.<\/p>\n Seidel and Palmer also made clear to donors that the group would not make future investments to any campaign if there is no opportunity to win, the official said, pointing to the Kochs\u2019 longstanding business-like approach to politics. Meanwhile, other Republican operatives believe Haley\u2019s continued candidacy creates unnecessary risks for the notoriously undisciplined Trump. \u201cThe longer she hangs around and the more Trump focuses on her, the greater likelihood you get unforced errors,\u201d said Republican pollster Neil Newhouse. \u201cShe\u2019s giving ammunition to Biden\u2019s campaign.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For months, the underdog in the presidential primary refused to concede defeat. He fought hard in state after state, even\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":29797,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[474,9529,5171,168,2918,9530,101,795,296,8269,4703,9531,3530],"class_list":["post-29795","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics","tag-campaign","tag-campaign-funds","tag-criminal-cases","tag-donald-trump","tag-donald-trump-civil-fraud-case","tag-donors","tag-joe-biden","tag-new-york","tag-nikki-haley","tag-republican-presidential-nomination","tag-super-pac","tag-supporters","tag-us-2024-presidential-elections"],"reading_time":"8 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29795","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29795"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29795\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29797"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29795"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29795"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/usa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29795"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}