Former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley is catching up to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in fundraising in her bid to win the Republican nomination in the 2024 presidential race.
The campaign told the New York Post Monday that Haley raised more than $11 million in the third quarter of 2023 following two strong debate performances, approaching the $15 million raised by the DeSantis camp during the same period.
“We have seen a big surge in support and have real momentum,” campaign spokesperson Olivia Perez-Cubas told the Post. “Nikki is emerging as the candidate who can move America beyond the chaos and drama of the past and present, and we have the resources we need to do it.”
While DeSantis raised more in the quarter, the report said Haley has about $4 million more in cash on hand for the campaign.
Both candidates are dwarfed by the campaign of former President Donald Trump, however, which raised $45 million in the same three months.
The FiveThirtyEight polling website has Trump ahead with 57.8% to DeSantis’ 14.7% and Haley’s fourth place 6.7%.
Businessman Vivek Ramaswamy is currently in third place with 7.3%, and the rest of the GOP field is polling below 5%.
The Washington Post reported Sept. 28 that Haley emerged from the second Republican National Committee debate, held at the Reagan Library in California, as one of the winners.
“I suspect a lot of Republican women watching that debate tonight were either silently thinking or perhaps even sort of cheering her on, ‘Go Nikki go!'” Republican strategist Matt Mackowiak told the Post. “It may be the secret weapon she has.”
The report said that independents watching the first debate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, used a “live action” dial from Navigator Research to declare Haley the winner of that event.
While Haley received high marks in both debates, critics like Rutgers University Center for American Women and Politics Director of Research Kelly Dittmar said the Republican base has lost a share of college-educated women, and that gender-based politics is not likely to strike a chord among those voters.
“Those messages about gender and women empowerment probably resonate even less with the Republican base of today,” Dittmar told the news outlet.
University of Southern California political science professor Jane Junn agreed with Dittmar.
“We don’t have a lot of examples among female Republican politicians,” Junn said in the report, citing Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, and Lauren Boebert of Colorado, “but they react badly to women they perceive to be aggressive, such as [Hillary] Clinton.”
Charles Kim ✉
Charles Kim, a Newsmax general assignment writer, is an award-winning journalist with more than 30 years in reporting on news and politics.
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