Haley Plans Additional Fundraisers ahead of South Carolina Event

Despite two consecutive losses to former President Donald Trump, Nikki Haley is determined to continue her pursuit of the Republican presidential nomination by returning to her home state of South Carolina. She has scheduled almost a dozen fundraisers between now and Feb 24.

Her first stop is New York City, where billionaires Stanley Druckenmiller, Henry Kravis, Ken Langone and Cliff Asness are reportedly set to meet with Haley on Jan 30, according to Bloomberg.

A donor, speaking on the condition of anonymity, told Bloomberg that this event is just the beginning of a fundraising effort for Haley between the New Hampshire and South Carolina primaries.

The same source informed Bloomberg that Haley plans to travel to Florida, California, and Texas in the first two weeks of February to meet with other wealthy centrist conservatives.

Many people view Haley’s efforts as more of a vanity project at this stage. Prior to her loss in Iowa to Trump, she was already trailing Trump by 30 points in South Carolina. Despite being born in South Carolina and serving as a popular two-term governor from 2011 to 2017, she faces a difficult challenge in halting Trump’s momentum.

Following her loss in New Hampshire on Tuesday, billionaire LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman has decided to stop making further donations to Haley.

South Carolina has an open primary, allowing anyone from either party to vote as long as they are registered and have not already voted in another primary.

Mark Harris, chief strategist for the super PAC supporting the former U.N. Ambassador, sees this as a window of opportunity.

“It will not be politicians,” Harris said. “It won’t be party insiders. It won’t be campaign officials. It will be voters. Voters get to make this decision. That’s the beauty of American democracy.”

It isn’t just Haley that Trump is leading. According to the latest poll from Cygnal, President Joe Biden is trailing Trump in 39 key swing congressional districts.