Nikki Haley gathers her donors and ignores Trump

Donald Trump may be the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, but Nikki Haley isn’t offering him her support or donor network yet.

During a private, two-day donor retreat in Charleston, South Carolina, the former South Carolina governor and U.N. ambassador thanked a group of around 100 donors and her team gave a presentation on her campaign’s fundraising and strategy.

But Trump was barely mentioned even as Haley continues to rack up votes in primaries despite dropping out of the race in early March. As expected, Haley did not endorse the former president during the retreat, nor did she encourage her supporters to back his campaign, according to attendees at the event.

The Charleston retreat showed the former GOP candidate continues to have the backing of an extremely loyal group of donors and supporters who plan to keep following her, even though she has yet to announce her next move beyond joining the Hudson Institute, a conservative Washington-based think tank.

“I take solace in the fact that Nikki's 52,” said Bill Strong, a Florida-based investment banker and Haley donor who attended the retreat. “She's highly engaged in the issues that are affecting the nation and I very much hope this is not the last we hear of Nikki Haley. And I fully expect that it will not be the last year of Nikki Haley.”

The only time Trump’s name came up during the presentation to donors was in the context of the early state primaries the former president won before Haley bowed out of the race, according to attendees.

Instead, Haley and her team went over details from her campaign, including figures for how much the campaign and super PAC raised.

After breakfast on Tuesday in a downtown Charleston conference room, Jon Lerner, a top aide to Haley, and Betsy Ankney, her former campaign manager, told donors that the campaign and super PAC raised a total of $162 million, with $82 million coming from the super PAC and $80 million from hard dollar donations to the campaign, according to details of the presentation shared by an attendee.

At least $50 million in contributions came from grassroots supporters and $30 million came from major donors. Around 300,0000 donors gave to the campaign — 145,982 of which were new Republican digital donors “added to the GOP fundraising ecosystem,” according to the presentation.

Her campaign had $11.5 million in the bank at the end of February, per Federal Election Commission figures.

“Nikki, she wanted full transparency,” said longtime Haley supporter Simone Levinson. “She felt obligated that we all see how they spent their money, where it was spent, what the strategies were and treat this as an investor conference where people could ask her and the campaign any questions.” 

Donors at the retreat discussed the continued support her campaign has had in recent primary elections. In Indiana last week, Haley earned more than 22 percent of the GOP vote; in Pennsylvania she earned 16 percent; and in Wisconsin she won 13 percent, even though she dropped out of the race over two months ago.

Haley even drew 14 percent of the GOP primary vote in Florida in mid-March, beating Gov. Ron DeSantis in his home state. DeSantis took in just 4 percent of the Republican vote. (Haley was still in the race when early voting and mail-in voting started in the state).

“We all took pride in that and many people in this country share Nikki's vision for America. They do. I do,” Strong said. “They don't have to vote for her. She's dropped out of the campaign. But they've continued to support [the campaign] and we expect that to continue to happen.”

Support for Haley — which has been concentrated in suburban areas — has received attention from President Joe Biden’s campaign, which has tried to attract Haley voters and donors with advertising and personal outreach.

Trump, meanwhile, isn’t actively courting Haley supporters and over the weekend ruled her out as a potential running mate.

“Nikki Haley is not under consideration for the VP slot, but I wish her well!" Trump posted on X, after Axios reported she was a contender.

In her March farewell speech, Haley said that Trump needs to “earn the votes” of her supporters and she also said that she no longer feels bound to the Republican National Committee’s pledge to support the nominee.

“Clearly the fact that she's still getting the votes that she's getting in the primary when she's not even a candidate anymore says that there are people that are out there that support her,” said Eric Tanenblatt, a Haley donor who attended the retreat. “It's going to be a close election. And I think it's in President Trump's best interest and the Republican Party's best interest for everyone to all be united.”

Haley is still settling into life beyond the campaign trail. Her son, Nalin, graduates from college at Villanova University this weekend and her husband, Maj. Michael Haley, just returned from a yearlong deployment with the National Guard in the Horn of Africa.

Her X account has been full of commentary on Biden, the Israel-Hamas war and recent college campus protests.

“She was very clear she did not know what the future has in store for her,” said Levinson. “But I know that she is committed to using her voice to do good and whatever her role she holds next, you know, we're lucky to have her.”

CORRECTION: A previous version of this report misspelled Betsy Ankney's name.