US President Joe Biden speaks at the Pieper-Hillside Boys & Girls Club in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on March 13, 2024.
Sara Stathas | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Allies of President Joe Biden are launching a charm offensive aimed at getting prominent Republicans and donors who don’t support Donald Trump to support the Democratic president.
But the task is proving difficult, people familiar with the effort say.
As of Thursday, Biden had not yet received endorsements from nationally recognized Republican Party officials.
Meanwhile, several major Republican-leaning political donors who supported former presidential candidate Nikki Haley’s campaign are holding back, at least for now, as they consider whether to support Biden.
“Winning campaigns build coalitions, and that is the North Star for every single day of this campaign through November – winning the support of the voters who will decide this race,” Biden campaign spokesman Kevin Munoz said in an E on Wednesday -Email to CNBC.
There is Republican support for Biden that would dwarf all others. But it’s a long way away.
The ultimate confirmation
Some of Biden’s donors, who also supported Haley in her first challenge to Trump, have tried to privately encourage her to support Biden, according to people with knowledge of the situation.
Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley meets with supporters as she announces her candidacy for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination at a campaign rally in Charleston, South Carolina, U.S., February 15, 2023. REUTERS/Allison Joyce
Allison Joyce | Reuters
Like others in this story, they were granted anonymity to describe private conversations.
They said Biden and his senior campaign advisers had not contacted Haley or members of her team about possible endorsements as of Thursday. And it was unclear whether Haley responded to her former castmates’ requests.
An aide to a Democratic Biden donor who was aware of this outreach to Haley described the campaign to win her support for Biden as a “nearly impossible task.”
For Haley, supporting Biden could mean sacrificing whatever political future she has in a Republican Party increasingly controlled by Trump.
A spokeswoman for Haley did not respond to emails seeking comment.
The names in bold
The Biden team plans to reach out in the coming months to other Republicans who have attacked Trump, including former Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, according to a person familiar with the matter.
A “Republicans for Biden” group could be assembled before the Democratic National Convention in July.
While Haley, Cheney and Christie have not endorsed Biden, each of them has previously publicly denounced Trump.
Cheney appears to have come closer to vocally supporting Biden over Trump than any other senior Republican — although without formally endorsing the president.
“I will do whatever it takes to defeat Donald Trump,” she said in a recent CNN interview. A spokesman for Cheney did not respond to a request for comment.
The Biden team believes big-name endorsements would likely make the biggest difference later in the election cycle, after the president bolstered support within his Democratic base and created a sharp contrast with Trump.
In recent weeks, the president has traveled to key states to engage Democratic core voters and highlight his administration’s track record. At the same time, his campaign has expanded staff and offices in the embattled state.
The donors
As Biden’s campaign builds an operation that will likely ultimately cost more than $1 billion, Biden is trying to pad his campaign coffers with cash from anti-Trump Republican donors.
Biden outperformed Trump by tens of millions of dollars in the first quarter of 2024. But a newly created joint Republican fundraising committee that can accept donations of up to $814,600 per person could tip the scales in Trump’s favor.
There are already efforts by wealthy Biden donors to recruit Haley’s bundlers and donors. But like trying to win support, it seems difficult.
Some Haley donors cited political disagreements with the Democratic administration as a key reason they have not yet been able to commit to Biden, according to people familiar with the matter.
But others already seem more open to donating money to Biden than supporting Trump.
Some Haley donors said a gift from Haley gave them the impression that the former South Carolina governor hoped they wouldn’t donate to Trump, one of the people said.
Shortly after Haley withdrew from the GOP primary on March 6, she sent out campaign T-shirts that read “Barred. Permanently” to some of their bundlers.
The T-shirt was a reference to Trump’s infamous threat that anyone who gave money to Haley would be “permanently banned from the MAGA camp.”
But another person familiar with the matter said the T-shirts were never intended to send any message other than to say “thank you” to their supporters.
Enlarge symbolArrows point outwards
Nikki Haley sells “Barred. Permanently. Nikki Haley for President” t-shirts.
Nikki Haley on X
George Conway, a former Republican and vocal Trump opponent, recently donated $929,600 to the Biden Victory Fund and said he plans to attend a committee dinner on April 26.
The Biden Victory Fund raises money for the Biden campaign, the Democratic National Committee and dozens of state parties.
Conway told CNBC that the party’s co-hosts are mostly Democrats, but he plans to “try to get more renegades to show up.”
As of Thursday, it was unclear whether other current or former Republicans planned to attend.
“Everyone, including Republican voters, who reject Trump’s chaos, division and violence has a home in President Biden’s campaign,” said Munoz, the Biden campaign aide.
But even as some Haley Republicans signal they want to take a break from presidential politics for now, other parts of the Never Trump universe want Biden to step things up.
The ready and willing
For these Republicans, Biden’s current outreach doesn’t go far enough to re-engage disillusioned Haley voters, many of whom have already experienced major disappointment this year.
“There was [approximately] 76,000 votes for Nikki Haley last night [Wisconsin’s primary]” wrote Bill Kristol, a political adviser to Never Trump and a former adviser to the Reagan administration, in a post on the social media site X.
“Biden won WI decisively [approximately] “20,000 votes in 2020. Republican voters against Trump matter,” he added. “A little more outreach from Team Biden to these voters might not be a bad idea.”
Bill Kristol
Michael Brochstein | SOPA images | LightRocket | Getty Images
Kristol’s nonprofit, Defending Democracy Together, is helping fund a $50 million advertising campaign by a group called Republican Voters Against Trump. The ads will feature former Trump voters explaining why they decided not to vote for him again.
Mike Madrid, co-founder of the anti-Trump PAC The Lincoln Project, told CNBC that Republicans ready to play a role in the 2024 election are still waiting for guidance from Biden’s team.
“Most interactions with the Biden campaign so far have been informal, as most donors, elected officials and campaign professionals are looking for direction,” Madrid said.
“We’re waiting for marching orders,” he said.
Every body else
While some of the key players in Bidenland are busy courting individual Republicans, other parts of Biden’s team are developing ways to connect with disaffected Haley supporters across the country.
The Biden campaign recently launched an ad urging Haley’s supporters to support Biden over Trump. According to Semafor, a political action committee called “Haley Voters for Biden” is also trying to convince Haley voters to support Biden.
Former UN Ambassador and 2024 presidential candidate Nikki Haley speaks to the press with New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu (L) outside a polling station at Winnacunnet High School in Hampton, New Hampshire on January 23, 2024.
Joseph Prezioso | AFP | Getty Images
The effort to turn opposition to Trump into support for Biden comes at a crucial time for the president, who may need those voters and their donations to get re-elected in November.
A polling average from Real Clear Politics on Thursday showed Biden and Trump virtually tied in the race for the White House.
Whoever wins the presidency in November will most likely have to make big inroads with former Haley supporters to do so. Polls showed that Haley’s primary voters tended to be more centrist, more educated and wealthier than average.
If the Biden campaign manages to convert individual anti-Trump VIPs into Biden supporters, the way they did it could provide important lessons for Team Biden going forward.
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2024-04-04 22:24:13
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