P donors who backed Haley shift focus to Congress Republican presidential candidate and former U.S. President Donald Trump gestures during his New Hampshire presidential primary election night watch party, in Nashua, New Hampshire, U.S., January 23, 2024. REUTERS/Mike Segar Former President Donald Trump gestures during his election night watch party in Nashua, New Hampshire, on January 23, 2024. As former President Donald Trump marches closer to the Republican presidential nomination, some conservative outside groups and donors opposed to his candidacy say they now must redouble their efforts to win the Senate in November. And some fret that with Trump at the top of the ticket – a scenario growing more likely with his decisive back-to-back victories in Iowa and New Hampshire – the task of holding the House and flipping the Senate will grow harder, even in a year when the Senate electoral map strongly favors the GOP. “If Trump ultimately is the nominee, the threat of a repeat of the last three elections and a Democrat sweep increases dramatically – making the Senate and the House that much more important,” said Bill Riggs, a spokesman for Americans for Prosperity Action. The group, aligned with billionaire industrialist Charles Koch, has spent millions promoting former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley as the best GOP candidate to defeat Trump in the primary, since endorsing her in late November. AFP Action leaders, who will discuss their political plans with the network’s donors at a Southern California gathering this weekend, say they continue to support Haley – despite her bruising loss Tuesday in New Hampshire and the “steeper road” she faces in her home state. Polls show Trump with a big lead in the Palmetto State’s February 24 primary. But the Koch officials say the group’s biggest 2024 investment will come in Senate contests, with a prime focus on flipping Democratic-held seats in six states: Michigan, Montana, Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. It’s already endorsed in three of those primaries with more announcements to come. In a recent AFP Action memo that appeared to hedge its bet on Haley, Emily Seidel, a top official, said the Senate represented the organization’s “highest probability play” to guard against what she called “One Party Progressive rule” in Washington. Eric Levine, a New York-based donor who has backed Haley and plans upcoming fundraisers for GOP Senate candidates, said a day after Trump’s New Hampshire win: “It’s all hands on deck for the Senate.” He said he holds out little hope of Republicans retaining the House after a court ruling last month ensured New York Democrats will have ultimate control over the redrawing of New York’s 26-seat congressional map ahead of this year’s elections. (A court-drawn Empire State map in 2022 helped Republicans flip four seats in the midterms – victories that allowed the GOP secure its current, narrow majority in the House.) The Senate is absolutely critical to saving the republic,” Levine said. For his part, Trump is threatening to blacklist donors who continue to support Haley, writing on social media that anyone who contributes to her moving forward “will be permanently barred from the MAGA camp.” Art Pope, a Republican from North Carolina and a longtime Koch donor, is backing Haley’s candidacy and said Trump’s threat only “emboldens” him to further support her.
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