Koch-backed network ends funding for Nikki Haley following S.C. primary loss

Americans for Prosperity Action on Sunday said it will stop funding presidential candidate Nikki Haley’s presidential campaign. Photo by Bonnie Cash/UPI | License Photo

Feb. 26 (UPI) — In another blow to presidential candidate Nikki Haley, an influential conservative political network financed by billionaire Charles Koch has announced it will cease contributing to the former South Carolina governor’s campaign.

Americans for Prosperity Action announced its decision to end funding for Haley in an email sent to staff on Sunday, a day after she lost South Carolina’s Republican presidential primary to former President Donald Trump. The email was first reported on by Politico.

The political network, which is dedicated to electing conservative candidates, said that while it will continue to support Haley’s run, it does not think its financial backing will make her path to the White House any easier. Its resources will, therefore, be better spent on U.S. Senate and House campaigns, it said.

“She has made it clear that she will continue to fight and we wholeheartedly support her in this effort,” Emily Seidel, senior AFP Action advisor, said in the letter. “But given the challenges in the primary states ahead, we don’t believe any outside group can make a material difference to widen her path to victory.”

AFP Action endorsed Haley for president in late November, stating in a letter that she offered the American public an opportunity “to turn the page on the current political era, to win the Republican primary and defeat Joe Biden next November.”

Since then, Haley has gone on to lose each of the handful of primaries to be held since the Iowa caucus on Jan. 15 to Trump. On Sunday, the former president garnered nearly 60% of the vote in South Carolina, a state that Haley once governed. Haley, who is also the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, secured the remaining nearly 40% of votes.

A delegate tracker by The New York Times shows Trump has won 110 delegates to Haley’s 20 with 1,215 needed to secure the GOP nomination.

Haley has vowed to continue campaigning until at least Super Tuesday on March 5, when 15 states and one territory will select their delegates.

And despite the defeat in her home state, her campaign said that they have since brought in more than $1 million in donations.

Her campaign on Sunday thanked AFP Action in a statement to CNN.

“AFP is a great organization and ally in the fight for freedom and conservative government. We thank them for their tremendous help in this race,” spokesman Olivia Perez-Cubas said.

“Our fight continues, and with more than $1 million coming in from grassroots conservatives in just the last 24 hours, we have plenty of fuel to keep going. We have a country to save.”

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