Tensions are ramping up between Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley as she gains traction and seemingly threatens his second-place spot in the Republican presidential primary.
The two campaigns have spent much of the week trading barbs over the possibility of the U.S. receiving refugees from Gaza, with DeSantis accusing Haley of trying to be “politically correct.” Haley’s campaign has hit back, accusing the DeSantis campaign of “falsely describing” her stance on the issue.
The super PACs supporting them have also battled in recent days. On Wednesday, the pro-DeSantis Never Back Down PAC rolled out an ad painting Haley as being sympathetic to refugees. Meanwhile, the pro-Haley SFA PAC highlighted reports that DeSantis was losing donors, calling it “DeSperation.”
The war of words comes as the two battle to be the primary’s top Trump alternative, a spot that DeSantis has held in the campaign so far.
“Right now, he doesn’t have a Donald Trump problem, he’s got a Nikki Haley problem,” NewsNation political contributor Chris Stirewalt said on “The Hill” earlier this week. “Nikki Haley’s gaining momentum; he’s going down to South Carolina to take questions from you, because Nikki Haley, and foreign policy — all the foreign policy news helps Nikki Haley. He’s gotta find a way to deal with her.”
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DeSantis’s campaign seems to have “dealt” with Haley, at least this week, through the barrage of attacks on her foreign policy record.
“I think it all boils down to one thing: She’s moving step by step to become the most viable alternative to Trump,” said one Republican strategist. “It may not end that way, but that’s what it’s looking like, so I’d expect her to take a lot more incoming.”
And DeSantis allies are seizing on what they say is Haley “flip-flopping” on issues.
“Nikki Haley has a history of weakly flip-flopping on critical issues and so far, she has never had to defend her actions. She’s provided an opportunity with her own missteps to fully expose her record versus her rhetoric. She will not be able to survive that,” said Kristin Davison, chief operating officer at Never Back Down.
The recent back-and-forth between the candidates stems from the Israel-Hamas war declared this month. On Saturday, DeSantis said during an address that the U.S. should not take in Palestinian refugees from Gaza, instead claiming that other countries in the region should be responsible.
“If you look at how they behave, not all of them are Hamas, but they are all anti-Semitic. None of them believe in Israel’s right to exist,” DeSantis said.
The following day on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Haley was asked about DeSantis’s comments on Palestinians being anti-Semitic. Haley noted that from her experience at the U.N., half of Palestinians did not support Hamas, while the other half did.
“There are so many people who want to be free from this terrorist rule,” she said. “They want to be free from all of that. And America’s always been sympathetic to the fact that you can separate civilians from terrorists. And that’s what we have to do.”
In the same interview, Haley questioned why countries like Egypt, Jordan, Qatar and Lebanon are not taking in Palestinian refugees.
On Monday, the pro-DeSantis super PAC Never Back Down posted a clip from the interview in which she was responding to DeSantis’s comments about Palestinians being anti-Semitic, claiming Haley was arguing “in support of bringing Gaza refugees to America.”
And Tuesday, the PAC rolled out a 30-second television ad using Haley’s response to DeSantis’s comments on Palestinians being anti-Semitic, with the caption “Nikki Haley on Gaza refugees?”
While Haley was not referring to refugees in her remarks, Republicans point out the tactic from DeSantis is a clear play at the party’s hard-line conservative base.
“Nikki Haley’s foreign policy view may be popular, acceptable in a general election, but it’s not a strength of hers necessarily in a Republican primary,” said Ford O’Connell, a GOP strategist.
But Haley has still used her experience to hit DeSantis. On Wednesday, Haley responded to a post on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, in which DeSantis challenged the other Republicans in the field to “oppose Biden’s $100 million gift to Hamas,” referring to President Biden’s funding to aid civilians in Gaza and the West Bank.
“We did this in 2018 when we eliminated U.S. aid to [the United Nations Relief and Works Agency]. Welcome to the fight,” Haley wrote, referring to her time at the U.N. “Actions > Talk.”
Haley’s campaign also released a campaign ad titled “Desperate DeSantis.” The spot asks, “Why is Desperate DeSantis attacking Nikki Haley? He’s losing to Nikki. And it’s easy to see why.”
In return, DeSantis’s campaign blasted Haley’s latest ad as a “distraction.”
“Ron DeSantis is running a serious campaign to challenge Donald Trump for our party’s nomination for president. Nikki Haley is clearly running a traditional Washington, D.C., committee blueprint to move talking heads rather than real primary voters,” said DeSantis campaign press secretary Bryan Griffin. “Ron DeSantis has been crystal clear: Not a single penny of U.S. tax dollars to the Gaza Strip, and not a single pro-Hamas refugee on American soil.”
Haley’s allies and her supporters point to her recent fundraising numbers and improvement in the polls. A Fox News poll released last week showed Haley behind DeSantis by only 3 points. The poll’s margin of error was 4.5 points for Republican primary voters.
At the state level, Haley has also seen some improvement. A Winthrop University survey released earlier this month showed Haley in second place behind Trump, 51 percent to 17 percent among Republican primary voters in her home state of South Carolina. DeSantis trailed at 12 percent support. Meanwhile, a USA Today/Boston Globe/Suffolk University poll of New Hampshire GOP primary voters showed Trump leading Haley 49 percent to 19 percent. DeSantis came in third at 10 percent.
Still, DeSantis holds second place in most polling. The RealClearPolitics polling average shows the Florida governor in second place with 12.8 percent support. Haley comes in third place with 7.4 percent support.
The former ambassador’s supporters also cite fundraising as a sign of her rise.
Haley’s campaign reported raising more than $11 million in the third quarter of the year, and it ended the quarter with $11.6 million cash on hand. Of that, Haley can use $9.1 million in the primary.
DeSantis’s campaign, together with a political action committee and joint fundraising account, raised $15 million during the same period. The campaign started the month with $13.5 million cash on hand, but only $5 million of that can be used during the primary.
“Since announcing, DeSantis insisted it’s a ‘two-man race’ between him and Trump. As his fundraising and poll numbers plummet, he’s lobbing false attacks at Nikki because he knows it’s a two-person race — Nikki and Trump,” said Olivia Perez-Cubas, a spokesperson for Haley’s campaign.
Regardless of who ultimately grasps second place, the candidate will have to contend with Trump. The former president has dominated the polls and fundraising, showing himself to be a political titan in the crowded primary field.
DeSantis donor Dan Eberhart warned that the barrage of attacks between the Haley and DeSantis campaigns could play into Trump’s hands.
“The feud benefits Trump more than it does DeSantis or Haley. If they are attacking each other, they aren’t attacking him,” Eberhart said. “Candidates rise and fall in the polls over the course of a campaign. They need to keep their eyes on the horse at the front of the pack.”