Former Trump UN ambassador Nikki Haley gears up for likely 2024 run for president

Nikki Haley, the former US ambassador to the United Nations under former President Donald Trump, has hired key staff and is seeking potential donors. as he explores a presidential run against his former boss in 2024, according to people briefed on his plans.

Haley created a national finance committee and communications team ahead of a potential campaign, these people said. Some new hires have been directed to report for work at Haley’s non-profit Stand for America Inc. and political action committee Stand for America PAC in Charleston, SC, by February 1, this person added. All of the people who spoke to CNBC asked not to be named because Haley’s plans are not public and could still change.

Political consultant Mary Kate Johnson, meanwhile, has contacted Haley for major political donors in recent days to gauge interest in joining the finance committee, the two people added.

Johnson has worked closely with Haley in recent years, raising money through consulting firm MKJ Inc. for Haley’s two nonprofits as well as her political action committee, tax records, federal election commission filings and local business records show.

Haley has not officially announced a presidential bid, but has hinted strongly at the possibility, recently telling Fox News that she is “leaning” toward a 2024 White House candidate and that Republicans need a candidate who can win the general election against President Joe Biden. . A spokeswoman for Haley did not return a request for comment.

Some corporate leaders have expressed interest in supporting Haley if she runs for president.

Veteran hedge fund manager Paul Singer has donated both to Haley’s nonprofit and her PAC, according to Federal Election Commission filings and nonprofit records obtained by Politico. Singer donated $270,000 to the nonprofit in 2019 and $5,000 to the PAC two years later, the records show. Billionaire conservative donor Miriam Adelson, the late wife of Las Vegas Sands Corp. founder Sheldon Adelson, is a major donor to Haley’s PAC, which raised more than $17 million in the 2022 election cycle and entered the 2024 cycle with more than $2 million. .

Singer privately told friends during Trump’s last year in office that Haley could be a strong contender for the presidency, according to people who heard him say it.

Most recently, Morgan Stanley CEO James Gorman predicted on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, that Haley would be the Republican presidential nominee, according to Semafor.

Representatives for Gorman and Singer did not return requests for comment.

Haley recently hired political consultant Nachama Soloveichik to help her communications team if the former South Carolina governor jumps into the race, one of the people said. LinkedIn Soloveichik said he has experience working for the campaign of retired Republican Sen. Pat Toomey as well as the Club for Growth, a conservative outside group.

Soloveichik is also listed as a partner at political consulting firm ColdSpark, which received $405,000 during the 2022 election cycle from Haley’s PAC, according to data from the nonpartisan OpenSecrets.

Haley also tapped Betsy Ankney, former political director for the National Republican Senatorial Committee, to run the PAC, according to Axios. Haley’s longtime adviser, Jon Lerner, will play a leadership role in Haley’s presidential campaign, the two people said.

The Twitter pages for Soloveichik and Ankney both say they are on “Team Nikki Haley.”

Johnson, Ankney, Lerner and Soloveichik did not return requests for comment.

Haley has said publicly in two recent interviews with Fox News that she may be ready to run for president. “I think I can be that leader,” Haley said in one, while clearly declining to announce a White House bid. He shared his experience as Trump’s US ambassador to the UN and previously served as governor of South Carolina.

Trump, who lost his re-election bid to Biden in 2020, is the only candidate who will jump to the 2024 presidential election.

Haley’s apparent mobilization for a White House bid hardly comes as a surprise to anyone who followed the former governor during or after her tenure in the Trump administration. He had to deflect questions about his 2020 presidential bid while sitting next to Trump in the Oval Office as he announced his departure from the United Nations in 2018.

But his recent move, and not-so-subtle given about the run, reflects more urgency at this early point in the presidential cycle than many of his possible rivals.

Many other Republicans – notably Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, but also former Vice President Mike Pence, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, Texas Senator Ted Cruz and former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo – are widely speculated to join. own 2024 campaign.

But so far none have been as clear as Haley. If he next announces a presidential run, he will be the second candidate to officially jump into the 2024 race — after Trump.

At least for the time being, that will pit Haley directly against Trump, an awkward place where Republicans are running.

While his position in the GOP may have declined after his loss to Biden on January 6, 2021, the Capitol riots and the poor performance of many of his own candidates in the November midterms, some polls show Trump remains the dominant force in the Republican Party.

Haley, like other Republican figures who initially swore off Trump after allegations of election denials caused hundreds of his supporters to gather at the Capitol, returned to a position of support later. He even said in 2021 that he would not run for president in 2024 if Trump was in the election.

Asked Friday about a possible reversal of that stance, Haley said “a lot has changed,” pointing to the Biden administration’s withdrawal from Afghanistan and other issues, such as inflation and “drugs that are attacking our entire country.”

The 51-year-old politician also made a case for bringing in a younger generation of leaders: “When you look at the future of America, I think it’s time for a new generation of change. I don’t think you have to be. 80 years old to be a leader in DC”

Still, several recent public opinion polls show Trump ahead of his opponents — including Haley.

A Morning Consult poll released last week, for example, showed Trump was supported by 48% of Republican primary voters, while only 2% of respondents said they would vote for Haley.

Another survey published Friday by the Harvard CAPS-Harris Poll again showed Trump winning the support of 48% of Republican voters in a hypothetical primary battle. Haley only got 3% support from the poll, which shows her below Pence and tied with Florida Senator Marco Rubio.

Haley appears unfazed by early polls. He posted two Fox clips of him discussing a possible run for president on his Twitter page, with one tweet saying “It’s time for a new generation. It’s time for new leadership. And it’s time to take our country back. America is worth fighting for- and we’re just getting started.” “