Former President Donald Trump is dominating the 2024 Republican presidential nomination race, scoring two early victories in Iowa and New Hampshire.
But love him or hate him, there’s no denying that Trump has a bit of a money problem — and rival Nikki Haley just got a huge boost at the last minute that could help her longshot challenge heading into the South Carolina primary.
After initially staying out of the 2024 presidential race, billionaire hedge fund manager Ken Griffin has thrown his support behind Haley.
Griffin made two contributions in December and January to a super PAC backing Haley’s campaign totaling $5 million, according to Griffin’s spokesperson Zia Ahmed.
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The second donation was made in early January, before the Iowa caucuses in which Haley finished third behind Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
The donations were disclosed Tuesday after Griffin mentioned earlier in the day while speaking at an investment conference in Miami that he had supported Haley.
But it wasn’t clear if he plans to continue supporting Haley, who lost by double digits last week to Trump in New Hampshire, a state where she was seen as having her best shot at stopping Trump’s march to the nomination.
Meanwhile, Trump’s huge Super PACs have been largely drained by the law firms fighting his legal battles.
Trump has accused Democrats of election interference and has repeatedly claimed that the Biden administration is targeting him to hurt his chances in the upcoming election.
🚨Trump's Save America leadership PAC raised $6.6M and had $30M refunded by the MAGA, Inc. SuperPAC. It burned $35.2M (over $25M on legal fees, and another $110.5K to Melania's stylist Herve Pierre Braillard for 'strategy consulting'), ending w/$5.14M on hand. pic.twitter.com/3AnqCUIgSy
— Rob Pyers (@rpyers) February 1, 2024
Despite her back-to-back losses in Iowa and New Hampshire and a tough path ahead, Haley has vowed to continue on to the contest in her home state of South Carolina on February 24.
She has scheduled a string of further fundraisers this week and next to try to bolster her campaign.
“It’s a narrower road than it was eight weeks ago,” Griffin said earlier Tuesday of Haley’s path to becoming the nominee.
Griffin later issued a rare statement Tuesday praising the former United Nations ambassador as someone with “a tremendous track record of leadership” and said, “America would be well served by someone with her foreign policy credentials and policy priorities in the White House.”
But he indicated he plans to concentrate his giving on other elections.
“While voters decide on who will serve as the Republican Party’s nominee for President, I will continue my focus on actively supporting U.S. House and Senate candidates prioritizing economic freedom and a strong defense of America at home and abroad,” Griffin said in the statement.
Griffin, who had not donated to Trump’s presidential campaigns but had praised his fiscal policies, was among a group of mega-donors who stayed out of the 2024 presidential race as they watched candidates try to challenge the former president.
Griffin was initially expected to support DeSantis, having praised him before he jumped into the race last year. But Griffin did not donate to him after his launch in May and was unsettled about some of his policies around teaching gender and sexuality in Florida schools and his ongoing fight with Disney.
The Horn editorial team and the Associated Press contributed to this article