(CNN) — The influential network associated with billionaire Charles Koch will throw its money and influence behind former South Caroline Gov. Nikki Haley in the Republican presidential primary, the group announced Tuesday.
Earlier this year, AFP Action – a political arm of Koch’s network – pledged to back a single contender in the GOP presidential primary for the first time in its history. And it made clear that it would bypass former President Donald Trump in its quest to find what Emily Seidel, a top AFP official, called a president “who represents a new chapter.”
“When we announced our decision to engage in our first ever Republican presidential primary, we made it clear that we’d be looking for a candidate who can turn the page on our political dysfunction – and win. It’s clear that candidate is Nikki Haley,” Siedel said Tuesday. “We can’t keep looking to the politicians of the past to fix the problems of today. Nikki Haley represents a new generation of leadership and offers a bold, positive vision for our future. AFP Action is proud to be endorsing her and we will be doing everything we can to help make her the next President of the United States.”
The former president is the Republican primary’s clear front-runner in both national and early state polling, with Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis each jockeying to emerge as the main Trump alternative.
The network already has spent millions of dollars on advertising in early voting states this year to cast Trump as likely to lose the general election.
One ad, “Unelectable,” described Trump as a serial loser who would imperil Republicans in Congress.
“If Donald Trump is the GOP nominee, we could lose everything,” the narrator says.
In addition to attempting to stir doubts about Trump among the GOP faithful, network officials have said part of their 2024 strategy is to bring a broader range of voters into the GOP primary process to help alter the outcome of early contests.
During his White House tenure, Trump, often sparred with Koch officials, who sharply criticized his administration’s trade and hardline immigration policies. But the network supported the Trump administration on other priorities, including a tax cut bill he signed into law in late 2017 and a criminal justice overhaul. The network also backed his nominees to the US Supreme Court.
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