A Republican megadonor told the press on Tuesday that he lacks confidence in Nikki Haley’s ability to win the Republican nomination after pouring millions into her presidential effort.
Ken Griffin, billionaire GOP megadonor and CEO of Citadel, praised Haley’s merits as a candidate during a CNBC interview on Tuesday but said that he doesn’t “know, though, that at this moment, that’s going to get her where she needs to get to in South Carolina and thereafter.”
Griffin’s comments on Haley’s presidential prospects coincided with an announcement that he had given $5 million to the pro-Haley super PAC SFA Fund in December 2023 and January, the Associated Press reported.
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Griffin publicly mulled supporting Haley for months leading up to January’s primary elections.
The hedge fund manager called Haley a “rockstar” in October 2023, citing her experience and momentum, Business Insider reported. Griffin praised her foreign policy credentials in November 2023, saying they are what “we need right now,” according to Bloomberg.
Griffin made his donations before the Iowa Caucus and the New Hampshire primary, according to the Financial Times. Haley lost the New Hampshire primary by more than 11 points and placed third in the Iowa caucus.
Griffin may not be the only major Haley donor to have become pessimistic about the former South Carolina governor’s chances after her losses in the first two elections of the Republican presidential primary.
Ed McMullen, a fundraiser for the Trump campaign, claims that dozens of donors that supported Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Haley have been contacting the campaign and offering support, The Guardian reported.
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Some deep-pocketed donors are still confident in Haley, however. Stanley Druckenmiller, Henry Kravis, Ken Langone and Cliff Asness, four Wall Street billionaires, co-hosted a fundraiser for Haley on Tuesday, Bloomberg reported.
Langone previously said that supporting Haley if she didn’t get “traction” in New Hampshire would be foolish, according to the Financial Times.
“If she doesn’t get traction in New Hampshire, you don’t throw money down a rat hole,” he said.
While some donors are sticking around, Haley’s primary support remains well under former President Donald Trump’s, according to FiveThirtyEight’s average of polling. Haley trails the former president by more than 30 points in her home state of South Carolina, for instance.
The Haley campaign did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment.
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