According to The Hill, the political wing of the conservative network led by
billionaire Charles Koch has endorsed former South Carolina Governor, Nikki
Haley for president, throwing its weight behind a top Republican challenger to
former President Trump.
Americans for Prosperity Action (AFP) released a memo Tuesday
backing Haley, who served as ambassador to the UN during the Trump
administration, arguing she is the strongest candidate to defeat Trump in the
GOP primaries as well as President Biden in next year’s general election.
This marks the first time the deep-pocketed group has thrown
its support behind a Republican candidate in a presidential primary and opens
up vast resources for Haley’s challenge to Trump.
“AFP Action is proud to throw our full support behind Nikki
Haley, who offers America the opportunity to turn the page on the current
political era, to win the Republican primary and defeat Joe Biden next
November,” reads the memo from AFP senior adviser Emily Seidel.
“She has what it takes to lead a policy agenda to take on
our nation’s biggest challenges and help ensure our country’s best days are
ahead. With the grassroots and data capability we bring to bear in this race,
no other organization is better equipped to help her do it,” it continued.
The
memo stated the group was getting involved in a presidential primary for the
first time because it wants a candidate who will turn the page on the past. It
added that Trump and Biden will only further perpetuate the country’s downward
spiral in politics.
This comes nearly a year after the conservative network
signaled it would not back Trump in the Republican primary, saying it
would support a candidate who represents a new chapter. The endorsement
demonstrates the group’s attempt to distance the Republican Party from Trump,
who the group said would lose to Biden.
“In sharp contrast to recent elections that were dominated
by the negative baggage of Donald Trump and in which good candidates lost races
that should have been won, Nikki Haley, at the top of the ticket, would boost
candidates up and down the ballot, winning the key independent and moderate
voters that Trump has no chance to win,” the memo states.
Haley has battled Florida Governor Ron DeSantis as
the top challenger to Trump in the GOP race and has seen her standing in
polls tick up amid several strong debate performances. Trump, for his
part, has maintained large leads in polls both nationally and in early voting
states.
DeSantis’s campaign panned the AFP Action endorsement in a
statement released Tuesday, saying the establishment is lining up behind a
moderate who has no mathematical pathway of defeating the former president.
AFP Action acknowledged DeSantis in its memo, praising him
as a strong advocate for many important freedom-oriented policies and fiscal
responsibility in the Sunshine State. The group noted that it endorsed his
successful gubernatorial reelection bid last year.
“We also understand that some of the Governor’s supporters,
including some who support AFP, will be disappointed in our decision,” the memo
reads.
“However, as the 2024 primary season heats up, we are
entering a time period that demands choices. Donald Trump won the nomination in
2016 largely because of a divided primary field, and we must not allow that to
happen again, particularly when the stakes are even higher in 2024.”
Haley welcomed the group’s endorsement in a statement,
reiterating that the 2024 election “is a choice between freedom and socialism,
individual liberty and big government, fiscal responsibility and spiraling
debt.”
Americans for Prosperity
AMERICANS
FOR PROSPERITY CHARLES
KOCH JOE BIDEN NIKKI HALEY NIKKI HALEY RON DESANTIS RON DESANTIS
