On Sunday, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley lost financial support from Americans for Prosperity Action PAC, the political arm of the Koch network. She finished behind former President Donald Trump a day earlier in her own state’s presidential primary.
Still, even after losing her most high-profile donors, Haley spent a stunning amount of money in Michigan — and lost by 20 points.
Haley’s campaign — and the affiliated PACs — dropped $937,000 in the Wolverine State, according to a report from Breitbart News.
What’s more, Haley was apparently spending even more money in the earlier-voting states. She reportedly blew $8.4 million in her home state, nearly 10 times the amount spent in Michigan. According to Breitbart, she spent more than $60 million between the Iowa caucus and the New Hampshire primary, for a grand total of $76 million.
Haley, once the donors’ favorite candidate, seems to have suffered a large drop in donations after finishing second in New Hampshire.
Sure enough, some big donors have acknowledged their decisions to stop the flow of money after the New Hampshire primary.
“Without a New Hampshire win, she doesn’t have the momentum she needed to win South Carolina,” one adviser to a political megadonor anonymously told The Washington Post. “And without a lane to South Carolina, she has no chance on Super Tuesday.”
LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman stopped the donations after New Hampshire, too.
“We invested in Governor Haley when we thought she had a shot of winning,” Hoffman adviser Dmitri Melhorn told the Wall Street Journal in a text message last month.
“I’d need to see a new case, with new evidence, to persuade me that more money could help her win now.”
Still, some donors are holding out hope. “As long as she’s in the race, I am with her,” Eric Levine, a Republican fundraiser, told the Post.
In the less than 24 hours following her South Carolina loss, Haley’s campaign said that she had raised $1 million “from grassroots supporters alone,” a bump they argued “demonstrates Haley’s staying power and her appeal to broad swaths of the American public.”
AFP Action is still endorsing her, despite stopping the flow of money.
In a memo first reported by Politico and obtained by The Associated Press, AFP Action senior adviser Emily Seidel wrote that, while the group “stands firm behind our endorsement” of Haley, it would “focus our resources where we can make the difference,” redirecting spending toward U.S. Senate and House campaigns and away from Haley’s presidential bid.
“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,” Seidel wrote.
Haley has affirmed — again and again — her commitment to staying in the race through Super Tuesday, on March 5.
However, if she continues to lose donors at this pace, then she might not be able to.
The Horn editorial team and the Associated Press contributed to this article.