PAC Supporting Nikki Haley Brings in $50 Million in Second Half of 2023

Presidential candidate Nikki Haley speaks to supporters in Concord, N.H., on Jan. 23, 2024. John Fredricks/The Epoch Times

A political action committee supporting Nikki Haley brought in more than $50 million in the final six months of 2023. The sum surpasses the amount reported by a group backing her rival for the Republican Party’s 2024 presidential nomination, former President Donald Trump.

On Jan. 25, Brittany Yanick, a spokeswoman for SFA Fund Inc.—a hybrid PAC linked to the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations’ candidacy—confirmed the accuracy of a report initially published by The New York Times.

SFA Fund Inc., short for “Stand for America Fund,” raised $50.1 million between June 3o and Dec. 31.

“Voters and donors across the country don’t want more chaos, they want to usher in a new generation of conservative leadership,” Ms. Yanick said in a release.

By comparison, Make America Great Again Inc., the super PAC backing President Trump’s run for the White House, raised $46 million during the same time frame.

Both PACs provided a summary of their fundraising activities to select press ahead of the Federal Election Committee’s Jan. 31 deadline for committees to file their year-end reports reflecting all of their financial activities. Neither SFA Fund Inc. nor MAGA Inc. has provided a complete list of their donors.

A super PAC can solicit or make unlimited contributions from and to individuals, corporations, labor unions, and other political committees, according to the FEC. MAGA Inc. is an unauthorized super PAC, meaning it cannot cooperate directly with the candidate.

A hybrid PAC, according to the FEC, can solicit and accept unlimited contributions from individuals, corporations, labor unions, and other political committees. It must maintain two bank accounts—one for independent spending on advertisements or voter drives and another for making direct contributions to federal candidates.

Sources within MAGA Inc. revealed a number of its largest donors—those who wrote checks exceeding $1 million—on Jan. 25. SFA Fund Inc. did not provide similar information. However, The Epoch Times previously reported Ms. Haley’s largest donors in the first half of 2023 included Silicon Valley billionaires and at least one donor who typically finances operations linked to the Democratic Party.

For the whole year, according to the early reports, SFA Fund Inc. raised about $68.8 million, while MAGA Inc. raised about $60 million. The Epoch Times previously reported SFA Fund Inc. is a significant buyer of local television advertisements supporting Ms. Haley and attacking others seeking the GOP’s nomination.

Spending on Political Ads

AdImpact, an Alexandria, Virginia-based political spending consultancy, estimates that SFA Fund Inc. spent a total of $31.3 million on advertising airing in Iowa ahead of the Jan. 15 Republican caucuses and $23.7 million on advertising airing in New Hampshire ahead of the presidential primary.

Ms. Haley finished third in Iowa, with 19.1 percent of the vote, behind President Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Mr. DeSantis dropped out of the race following his Iowa performance and endorsed President Trump. In New Hampshire, Ms. Haley finished behind President Trump with 43.2 percent of the vote.

In spite of coming up short in both the caucuses and the first-in-the-nation primary, Ms. Haley is pledging to continue her campaign at least through Super Tuesday on March 5. In an X post, AdImpact said SFA has already booked more than $4.8 million worth of advertising in South Carolina television markets.

The Palmetto State will hold its presidential primary on Feb. 24. According to the latest major poll focused on South Carolina, published by Emerson College Polling on Jan. 5, President Trump leads Ms. Haley by a 29-point margin.

The Emerson poll, which still included a number of candidates who have since dropped out, showed 54 percent of likely Republican primary voters saying they would vote for President Trump and 25 percent saying they would vote for Ms. Haley.

Ms. Haley, who is from Bamberg, South Carolina, and was the state’s governor from 2011 to 2017, is currently campaigning in her home state. President Trump and his campaign do not currently have any political events scheduled.