Billionaire LinkedIn co-creator Reid Hoffman has suspended any further support for former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley following her second-place finish in the New Hampshire primary on Tuesday night. According to sources familiar with the Democrat megadonor’s plans, Hoffman will withhold further campaign contributions until Haley can present a “new potential path to victory,” reflecting diminishing confidence among Haley’s establishment backers.
As first reported by the New York Times in early December, Hoffman, a longtime supporter of the Democratic Party and various center-left organizations, donated $250,000 to the pro-Haley super PAC SFA Fund. Despite openly stating that he plans to support incumbent President Joe Biden in the November general election, Hoffman vastly preferred Haley to former President Donald Trump.
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According to a LinkedIn post from Hoffman at the time:
Nikki Haley has disappointed me with her inconsistency in denouncing Trump, especially after the violence of January 6, and I disagree with a wide swath of her policy views. Yet, American politics are in crisis. While we are fighting to defend the idea of America from the threat of Trumpism, we need to engage with people with whom we disagree about many areas of policy and culture. Nikki Haley would not be as good for America as Joe Biden, but America would survive her administration.
If America is to avoid another Trump presidency, it will be because Trump loses an election next year. If he is to lose, it will either be to Nikki Haley in the primary, or Joe Biden in the general.
Hoffman’s decision was also influenced by JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon, who touted Haley as the best Trump alternative and privately advised the former governor on economic issues. Alongside Haley’s high-profile endorsement from the multi-billion-dollar Koch Network, establishment support behind her was strong ahead of the first primary votes. In total, donors spent $167 million on Haley in Iowa and New Hampshire alone.
However, in the Iowa Caucuses earlier this month, Haley placed a distant third with just 19.1 percent of the vote. In the New Hampshire primary, she placed second—a feat only made possible by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis dropping out and the state’s open primary allowing Democrats and Independents to vote for her.
Related: 70% of Nikki Haley’s New Hampshire Voters are Not Registered Republicans
In light of Haley’s disappointing performance, Hoffman has become the first major donor to eye an exit from her campaign.
“It is still possible that Governor Haley will be able to persuade voters that Trump is no longer stable and cannot carry their banner into the fall campaign,” Hoffman’s political philanthropy adviser Dmitri Mehlhorn said. “Before recommending another investment at this later stage in the process, however, I would need to see a new potential path to victory given that she did not win New Hampshire.”
“If it becomes clear that the GOP has decided to nominate Trump, we have no choice but to turn our attention to defeating Trump in the general election.”
Connor Walcott is a staff writer for Valuetainment.com. Follow Connor on X (Twitter) and look for him on VT’s “The Unusual Suspects.”
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