Republican presidential hopeful Nikki Haley pulled in more than $11 million in her first six weeks on the trail, her campaign announced on Wednesday.
The eight-figure haul comes from 70,000 donations, including 67,000 small-dollar donations — those totaling $200 or less — her campaign said. The $11 million sum overshadows the roughly $9.5 million former President Trump raised in the first quarter since announcing his latest bid for the 2024 Republican presidential nod.
“Voters and donors are clearly responding to Nikki’s conservative message and her call for a new generation of leadership to make America strong and proud,” Betsy Ankney, Haley’s campaign manager, said in a statement. “As Nikki said in her announcement speech in Charleston on February 15, ‘I’ve been underestimated before. That’s always fun.’”
Since announcing her campaign in February, Haley has embarked on an aggressive travel schedule that has taken her through key early voting states. In the first half of April, she’s set to swing through several stops in Iowa, which holds the first presidential caucus.
Her campaign also noted that she’s held 19 grassroots events in New Hampshire and Iowa, which holds the first Republican presidential primary.
Haley has the resume of a viable presidential contender; she was elected to two terms as governor of South Carolina before serving as Trump’s United Nations ambassador for nearly two years. After leaving that post, she founded a group to boost GOP candidates up and down the ballot.
Yet she still faces some clear obstacles in her bid for the GOP’s 2024 nomination. Polling shows Trump as the top candidate for the presidential nod, while Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis trails in second place. Few surveys show Haley cracking double-digit support.
Still, she’s sought to cast herself as a new generation of leadership within the GOP, arguing that Republicans need a change after losing the popular vote in seven out of the last eight presidential elections.