The Koch brother's Americans for Prosperity Action announced it would break with precedent and endorse Nikki Haley for the Republican presidential nomination.
“When we announced our decision to engage in our first ever Republican presidential primary, we made it clear that we’d be looking for a candidate who can turn the page on our political dysfunction – and win. It’s clear that candidate is Nikki Haley,” Emily Seidel, a top AFP official said Tuesday. “We can’t keep looking to the politicians of the past to fix the problems of today. Nikki Haley represents a new generation of leadership and offers a bold, positive vision for our future. AFP Action is proud to be endorsing her and we will be doing everything we can to help make her the next President of the United States.”
This is a nuclear-powered boost to the Haley campaign. But frankly, it's not the same AFP from a decade ago. While they can still wield considerable influence because of their massive war chest, their endorsement carries far less weight with the right than it used to.
Still, Haley can be expected to receive tens of millions of dollars in advertising and organization. Is it too little, too late?
The effort will begin with a multimillion-dollar ad campaign in support of Haley launching this week in all early and several Super Tuesday states, and the group touted its data capabilities – including a contact database with millions of voters – and its extensive grassroots reach.
Seidel did not disclose a budget on behalf of Haley, but the network has spent hundreds of millions of dollars in previous election cycles, rivaling the financial might of the Republican National Committee.
“AFP Action’s members know that there is too much at stake in this election to sit on the sidelines. This is a choice between freedom and socialism, individual liberty and big government, fiscal responsibility and spiraling debt. We have a country to save, and I’m grateful to have AFP Action by our side,” Haley said in a statement to CNN.
Meanwhile, Ron DeSantis tried to paint Haley as a moderate who is helping Trump to victory.
“Every dollar spent on Nikki Haley’s candidacy should be reported as an in-kind to the Trump campaign,” DeSantis spokesperson Andrew Romeo said in a statement. “No one has a stronger record of beating the establishment than Ron DeSantis, and this time will be no different.”
The Trump campaign tried to tie Haley to pro-China policies.
“Americans for Prosperity — the political arm of the China First, America Last movement — has chosen to endorse a pro-China, open borders, and globalist candidate in Nikki ‘Birdbrain’ Haley,” campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said. He added that “no amount of shady money” will stop Trump from winning.
Related: Nikki Haley Is Emerging As Trump's Primary Opponent
One of Haley's biggest problems is the timing of the announcement. No one will be paying much attention to politics over the next month as voters become preoccupied with Christmas and the New Year festivities. So she'll have an even smaller window to make an earth-shaking impact than she might normally have had.
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