Liberal megadonor Reid Hoffman, who ponied up $250,000 for Republican presidential challenger Nikki Haley last year, is not giving her any more campaign cash, according to a new report.
Hoffman, a co-founder of LinkedIn and a billionaire who donates generally to Democrats, made the decision after the New Hampshire primary, which Haley lost to former President Donald Trump, according to CNBC, which quoted a source it did not name.
CNBC also quoted what it described as a Republican fundraiser who said that three donors who helped raise up to $100,000 each for the former South Carolina governor’s campaign are also putting no more money into the campaign.
The CNBC report further said that other fundraisers contacted said they will still verbally support Haley, but they are doubtful her fund-raising prospects are good, given the two wins by Trump that have marked the start of the GOP presidential primaries and caucuses.
Pro-Trump commentator Benny Johnson posted on X that the news means “It’s over for Nikki.”
It’s over for Nikki pic.twitter.com/SQdFYjaZpd
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) January 24, 2024
Hoffman’s emergence as a Haley donor was triggered late last year after Jamie Dimon, the chief executive of JPMorgan Chase, called upon liberal donors to support Haley as a GOP alternative to Trump.
Hoffman then forked over $250,000 to a Super PAC supporting Haley, according to The New York Times.
Haley said at the time she was not ruling out anyone when raising funds.
“Anybody that wants to come support the cause, whether they’re Republican, independent or Democrat, we’re going to take them. And that’s the way the Republican Party should look at it is, this is a story about addition, not about getting people and pushing people away,” she said then.
Not all donors are bailing, according to Reuters.
Eric Levine, a Haley backer from New York, said he would keep raising money for Haley, who has indicated she will remain in the race through at least the Super Tuesday contests in March.
“I expect that the donor base will remain loyal,” he said.
Dean Lacy, a political science professor at Dartmouth College, said Haley could continue if enough donors stay with her because of the unknown presented by the multiple criminal cases involving Trump.
“I don’t see her winning,” Lacy said. “But she could stay in the race as a backup plan.”
The next major primary date in the South Carolina contest is on Feb. 24, but an even bigger date precedes that.
On Feb. 8, lawyers for Trump and those trying to keep him off the ballot will argue their case before the Supreme Court, according to CBS.
Trump’s enemies argue that the 14th Amendment ban against anyone who committed an insurrection from holding federal office should apply to Trump, meaning he should not be on the ballot. Trump argues that claims he was involved in an insurrection through the Capitol incursion of Jan. 6, 2021, are false.
