(ConservativeInsider.org) – As the Republican presidential primary race heats up, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis seems unfazed that Nikki Haley, who served as both Governor of South Carolina and the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, has apparently taken some of DeSantis’s biggest donors.
When asked by Laura Ingraham of Fox News if he was concerned about losing donors to Haley, DeSantis reminded Ingraham that his campaign has “consistently outpaced” Haley’s in terms of fundraising. DeSantis raised $15 million in the last quarter, compared to Haley’s $11 million. However, DeSantis raised $20 million in the quarter before that, leading some to speculate that DeSantis’s campaign is losing momentum in the primary race.
DeSantis also reminded Ingraham that he chooses to do what he believes is right, rather than bending over backwards to please big-name donors, including taking on popular brand Disney and going after Big Pharma. He emphasized that he was unwilling to “kowtow” to donors to gain their support.
The website FiveThirtyEight, which is known for tracking national polls and analyzing them for readers, reports that former President Trump maintains support from nearly 70% of Republican voters while second-place candidate DeSantis has only 12.4%. Haley is in third place with almost 10%.
The Americans for Prosperity Action Super PAC, which is largely funded by billionaire Charles Koch, recently announced their endorsement for Nikki Haley. The Super PAC released a statement saying Haley has a “bold positive vision” of the future and represents a “new generation of leadership.” Though Koch and AFP have previously expressed support for DeSantis, behind the scenes discussions led the team to throw their support behind Haley in this election cycle. Though the DeSantis campaign has publicly denied this, other reports indicate that when DeSantis and his team discovered that AFP was going to endorse Haley, they went “apoplectic.”
While DeSantis was seen by many as the best challenger to take on Trump, he has struggled in the polls in the last few months and seems to have lost momentum in the race.
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