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 mounting a charm offensive aimed at getting high-profile Republicans and donors who would not support Donald Trump to support the Democratic president.
But the task is proving difficult, according to people familiar with the efforts.
As of Thursday, Biden has yet to get anything endorsements from nationally recognized Republican Party officials.
Meanwhile, some major Republican-leaning political donors who backed former presidential front-runner Nikki Haley’s campaign are holding back, at least for now, as they decide whether to back Biden.
“Winning campaigns build coalitions, and that’s the north star of this campaign for every single day between now and November — getting the support of the voters who will decide this race,” Biden campaign spokesman Kevin Munoz said. to CNBC in an email on Wednesday.
For Biden, there is one Republican endorsement that trumps all. But it’s a long shot.
The ultimate endorsement
Some of Biden’s donors who supported Haley in her primary challenge to Trump have tried to privately persuade her to endorse Biden, according to people with knowledge of the situation.
Former US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley meets with supporters as she announces her run for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination at a campaign event in Charleston, South Carolina, US February 15, 2023. REUTERS/Allison Joyce
Allison Joyce | Reuters
Like others in this story, they have been given anonymity to describe private conversations.
As of Thursday, Biden and his senior campaign advisors had not contacted Haley or members of her team about a possible endorsement, they said. And it’s unclear whether Haley has responded to any of the outreach from her previous contributors.
An adviser to a Democratic Biden donor aware of this outreach to Haley described the campaign to win her support for Biden as a “nearly impossible task.”
For Haley, endorsing Biden could mean sacrificing any future political prospects she has in a Republican Party increasingly controlled by Trump.
A spokesman for Haley did not respond to emails seeking comment.
Names in bold
In the coming months, the Biden team plans to reach out to other Republicans who have stood up to 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 finalized 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 than any other high-profile Republican to vocally supporting Biden over Trump — even without officially endorsing the president.
“I will do whatever it takes to defeat Donald Trump,” he said recently CNN interview A spokesman for Cheney did not respond to a request for comment.
Biden’s team believes that big-name endorsements are likely to make the biggest difference later in the election cycle, after the president has cemented support within his Democratic base and drawn a stark contrast to Trump.
In recent weeks, the president has been traveling to key states to activate key Democratic voters and highlight his administration’s record of success. At the same time, his campaign is increasing staff and state offices on the battlefield.
The donors
As Biden’s campaign builds an operation that will likely cost north of a billion dollars when all is said and done, Biden is looking to pad his campaign coffers from anti-Trump Republican donors.
Biden surpassed Trump by tens of millions of dollars in the first quarter of 2024. But a newly created Republican joint fundraising committee that can accept donations of up to $814,600 per person could begin to tip the scales in Trump’s favor .
There are already efforts being made by wealthy Biden donors to recruit Haley bundlers and contributors. But just like trying to get endorsements, here too, things look tough.
Some Haley donors have cited policy disagreements with the Democratic administration as a big reason they still can’t commit to Biden, according to people familiar with the matter.
But others seem more open to giving money to Biden than they are to supporting Trump.
Some Haley bundlers said a gift from Haley left them with the impression the former South Carolina governor hoped they wouldn’t donate to Trump, one of the people explained.
After a few moments Haley pulled back from the March 6 GOP primary, he sent campaign T-shirts to some of his bundlers saying “Blocked. Permanently.”
The shirt is 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 not intended to send any message other than saying “thank you” to his supporters.
Nikki Haley is selling the “Hindered. Permanently. Nikki Haley for President” T-Shirt.
Nikki Haley by X
George Conway, a one time The Republican and vocal opponent of Trump recently gave $929,600 to the Biden Victory Fund and said he plans to attend a dinner for the committee 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 that he plans to “try to get more apostates to show up.”
As of Thursday, it was unclear if any 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, for now, from presidential politics, the rest of the Never Trump universe wants Biden to make things better.
The ready and willing
For these Republicans, Biden’s current outreach doesn’t go far enough to reconnect with disillusioned Haley voters, many of whom have already experienced major disappointments this year.
“There is [approximately] 76k votes for Nikki Haley last night at [Wisconsin’s primary],” Bill Kristol, a Never Trump political consultant and former Reagan administration aide, wrote in a post on social media site X.
“Biden won WI by [approximately] 20k votes in 2020. Republican voters against Trump are important,” he added. “A little outreach from Team Biden to those 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 ad campaign from a group called Republican Voters Against Trump. The ads will feature one-time Trump voters explaining why they decided not to vote for him again.
Mike Madrid, a co-founder of the anti-Trump PAC The Lincoln Project, told CNBC that Republicans willing to play a role in the 2024 election are still waiting for some guidance from Biden’s team.
“Most contact with the Biden campaign has been informal up to this point, as most donors, elected officials and campaign professionals are looking for direction,” Madrid said.
“We’re waiting for marching orders,” he said.
Everything
While some of the key players in Bidenland are busy wooing individual Republicans, other parts of Biden’s team are designing ways to connect with disaffected Haley supporters across the country.
The Biden campaign recently launched a advertisement encouraging Haley’s supporters to support Biden instead of Trump. A political action committee called “Haley Voters for Biden” is also trying to persuade Haley voters to support Biden, according to Semaphore.
Former UN Ambassador and 2024 presidential hopeful Nikki Haley, with New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu (L), speaks to the press outside a polling place at Winnacunnet High School in Hampton, New Hampshire, on January 23 , 2024.
Joseph Prezioso AFP | Getty Images
The effort to convert opposition to Trump to support for Biden comes at a crucial time for the president, who may need these voters and their donations to win re-election in November.
A Real Clear Politics polling average on Thursday showed Biden and Trump in a virtual tie in the race for the White House.
Whoever wins the presidency in November will likely have to make big inroads among Haley’s former supporters to do so. Polls show Haley’s primary voters are more centered, educated and wealthy than average.
If the Biden campaign can convert individual anti-Trump VIPs into Biden supporters, how they do it could hold important lessons for team Biden going forward.
