Nikki Haley's donors are defying Donald Trump's threat as her fundraising is still booming

Sumter, S.C. – When Republican rival Nikki Haley refused to exit the 2024 presidential race after losing the New Hampshire primary, Donald Trump came after her. His move: Put a chokehold on her money.

Anyone who gave Haley a dime, the former president warned, would be “permanently barred from the MAGA camp.”

But so far, those donors have refused to kowtow to the GOP front-runner’s demands, which they say exemplifies why Republicans should go in a different direction.

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Instead, donors continue refilling Haley’s coffers, allowing her to spend heavily in South Carolina ahead of the state’s contest Saturday.

Republican presidential candidate and former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley delivers a speech to press and supporters in Greenville, S.C., on Feb. 20, 2024. Haley said she would not be dropping out of the presidential race ahead of the South Carolina primary.

“Every time (Trump) opens his mouth, he offends someone,” said Munir Lalani, a Haley donor and Pakistani immigrant who attended a fundraiser for Haley in Dallas last Thursday.

Lalani, a registered Republican who voted for Trump in 2016, and his wife have forked over $30,000 combined to the Haley campaign and two pro-Haley groups in 2023, according to Federal Election Commission records.

Trump’s gauntlet shows how this year’s election has been tinted by his grievances as much as any policy differences with President Joe Biden and the Democrats.

And it is one conservative-leaning Haley donors large and small feel is a preview of how the former president plans to retaliate against anyone who dares oppose him should he return to the White House.

Haley’s campaign has eagerly put a spotlight on the threat as further proof that if Trump targets diehard GOP voters, he will alienate independents and moderates in the general election.

“I have no fear of Trump’s retribution,” Haley said Tuesday at an event in Greenville, S.C. “I’m not looking for anything from him.”

Lalani, a 70-year-old hotelier, said the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol had already changed his view of the former president, but the promise to box out her donors only fueled his desire to donate more.

“After the debates, I thought Haley was somebody that can stand her ground,” Lalani said. “And she’s proving that she has a fight in her.”

Munir and Vickie Lalani

Part of how Haley has been able to withstand Trump’s onslaught is tied to the job she filled in the former president’s administration.

Her stint as United Nations ambassador served as a sturdy bridge for her presidential campaign by giving her a powerful New York base and access to events with wealthy bankers, corporate executives and deep-pocketed philanthropists.

She was not known to hobnob at the U.N. – but she went on to make millions delivering private speeches, working as a consultant and serving on corporate boards.

The financial backing from Wall Street, including from some Democrats, has become fodder for her political opponents.

US Republican presidential hopeful and former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley greets supporters at a campaign event in Bamberg Veterans Park February 13, 2024, in Bamberg, South Carolina. (Photo by Allison Joyce / AFP) (Photo by ALLISON JOYCE/AFP via Getty Images) ORG XMIT: 776105297 ORIG FILE ID: 2001080961

Raising cash − and a lot of it

Trump’s ultimatum didn’t put an immediate dent in Haley’s overall support from large donors.

The former South Carolina governor held fundraisers in New York, California and Texas in the four weeks after the threat, and January proved to be her biggest monthly fundraising haul with $16.5 million, according to her campaign.

Immediately after Trump’s social media post, Haley’s campaign also courted grassroots donors by selling 20,000 T-shirts bearing the phrase “Barred. Permanently.”

That fueled $6 million in airtime aimed at South Carolina voters, which allowed Haley to stand toe-to-toe with her former boss in terms of advertising, events and ground campaigning even as Trump’s political and financial resources are being sucked dry by his widening legal troubles.

“It’s very clear based on our fundraising and based on our buys that we will have the resources to go the distance,” Haley campaign manager Betsy Ankney told reporters on a call Feb. 5.

A woman holds stickers before US Republican presidential hopeful and former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley speaks at a campaign event at Summerville Country Club on February 13, 2024 in Summerville, South Carolina. (Photo by Allison Joyce / AFP) (Photo by ALLISON JOYCE/AFP via Getty Images) ORG XMIT: 776105297 ORIG FILE ID: 2001184797

Campaigns and certain campaign committees were required to file January numbers on Tuesday. Though Haley’s joint fundraising committee was not among them, her campaign reported a haul of more than $11.5 million on its own. It spent more than $13 million as the former governor fought to remain competitive in the race and had roughly the same amount left in the bank.

Trump’s campaign reported having $30 million cash on hand after bringing in $8.8 million in January and spending $11.4 million.

SFA Fund Inc., the main super PAC backing Haley, reported having just under $2 million in the bank at the end of January after spending more than the roughly $12.1 million it raised last month, according to the group’s latest FEC filing, which was released late Tuesday.

Federal data for MAGA Inc., the top Trump Super PAC, showed in its filing Tuesday that it had $17.8 million in the bank at the end of January. At $10.8 million, it spent less than the Haley-aligned PAC from what it raised last month.

Though at least one of Haley’s major PAC donors, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, stopped giving recently, CNBC reported, the decision was tied to Haley’s performance in New Hampshire.

Mark Harris, lead strategist for SFA, said Trump’s threat was motivating to Haley backers. He told USA TODAY the night of Trump’s social media post was one of the PAC’s best in terms of income and pledges.

That outpouring of support allowed the group to dedicate an additional $2 million to South Carolina this month.

It is more than it initially intended, Harris said, because SFA raised more than it thought it would and because it is following the Haley campaign’s lead and upping its investment in the state.

Harris said the PAC’s coffers were nearly empty after New Hampshire, and the fact that it is spending big now in South Carolina shows that people are still giving.

“It’s been an easy sell,” Harris said of his conversations with Republicans who are concerned about down-ballot races. He pointed to the GOP’s loss in the New York special congressional election last week.

“The best thing you can do for all Republicans is nominate Nikki Haley,” he said.

Haley’s losses are a wake-up call

Republican presidential candidate former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley speaks to members of the media during a campaign event at Thunder Tower Harley Davidson Monday, Feb. 12, 2024, in Elgin, S.C. South Carolinians will participate in their Republican primary on Feb. 24. (AP Photo/Sean Rayford) ORG XMIT: OTK

Any attrition among Haley donors likely has more to do with her double-digit losses in early states than with Trump’s threat, said David McIntosh, president of Club for Growth, who is in regular touch with major GOP donors.

“Most people think: ‘I’m going to give who I want to give to,’” he said. “I’m guessing that after he wins in South Carolina, he’s going to say, ‘OK, come – everybody – let’s be one big party and win in November.'”

Club for Growth has had a love-hate relationship with Trump. It did not back him for president in 2016 and clashed with him over Senate candidates in 2022, for instance.

The conservative activist group backed his 2020 reelection bid and opposed his impeachment in 2021 before clashing with him in the midterms.

When the former president’s control over the party appeared to be loosening last winter, the group invited every top-tier GOP presidential hopeful to a donor retreat in Palm Beach – except Trump.

But with Haley fading, the group appears ready to pony up for the former president.

McIntosh said Club for Growth will back whoever wins the GOP nomination when the time comes. Haley’s defeat in the Nevada primary this month “to none of these candidates” should serve as a wake-up call, he said: “It’s time to bow out of this race.”

Haley and her allies have ignored the loss: She did not campaign or spend money there because the primary did not produce delegates.

Harris, who leads the Haley super PAC, said he hadn’t heard from a single donor about the Nevada loss. He said the group has plans to purchase ads in Michigan and Super Tuesday states after South Carolina, although it has not done so yet.

“We’re here as long as she’s here,” Harris said. “Our donors are committed and supportive.”

‘Bring it’: Haley donors reject Trump threat

A man places signs outside a rally for Republican presidential candidate and former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley on January 28, 2024 in Conway, South Carolina.

On the trail, Haley leverages Trump’s threat as another example of how he fails to grow his voter base, which will be important in November.

“You don’t push people out of your club,” Haley said last week at an event in Summerville, S.C., to loud applause.

Across the country, supporters who have dug into their pockets echoed how Trump’s remarks magnify their worries about his temperament and the Republican Party’s ability to win this fall.

“I think it’s very arrogant, the former president to say such a thing, and I really don’t want to be associated with him,” Jon Reynolds, a registered Republican who lives in Murrieta, California, said in an interview.

The 54-year-old airline pilot and retired military officer has given about $250 to Haley, according to federal campaign records.

Reynolds said Haley “doesn’t let her emotions get to her” the way Trump does. She reminds him of more traditional conservatives such as former President Ronald Reagan.

Liz Morris, a registered Republican who lives in Delray Beach, Florid, has already had given about $1,000 to Haley’s campaign before Trump’s comments, according to campaign finance records.

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at his Mar-a-Lago estate, Friday, Feb. 16, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Rebecca Blackwell)

The 74-year-old homemaker told USA TODAY she believes Trump did “a lot of good things” when he was in office in terms of the economy, but his character is something she can no longer ignore.

“I hate the man,” she said. “He’s despicable and I have no respect for him.”

If Trump wins the GOP nomination, she said, then her ballot will be cast for a third-party candidate.

Other conservative-minded voters who are backing Haley aren’t going that far, however.

Rod Adair, 70, a former New Mexico state senator and now demographer, gave Haley’s campaign $313 directly, according to FEC records. He called the former president’s comments about Haley donors an “inarticulate Trump-ism.”

“He doesn’t think through what he’s saying,” Adair said in an interview. “He just says stuff off the cuff, and that’s one of the drawbacks.”

But if the Republican nominee winds up being Trump, the former president will have Adair’s vote just as he did in 2016 and 2020.

“No question about it,” he said.

In South Carolina, where Haley trails by almost 30%, according to a new USA/TODAY/Suffolk University poll, scores of her supporters have continued to show up to her rallies sporting T-shirts, hats and other campaign apparel.

Crecie Woodard, an aspiring educator, bought two $20 shirts from Haley’s apparel stand Monday in Sumter. It was her first time donating to the candidate.

A Republican who voted for Trump in 2016, Woodard said she cast a ballot for Biden in 2020.

Like many of Haley’s supporters, she expressed being “tired of the drama.” She does not mind being banned from Trump’s movement.

“I say, ‘Bring it,’” Woodard said. “I have never been a fan of MAGA.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Nikki Haley’s donors are defying Donald Trump’s threat as her fundraising is still booming