FIRST ON FOX - A super PAC supporting Nikki Haley's Republican presidential campaign on Tuesday launched a new ad in New Hampshire, which argues that former President Trump "knows Haley's the only one who can beat him."
The spot by Stand for America (SFA) Fund, which was shared first with Fox News, comes on the same day that the Trump-aligned super PAC Make America Great Again (MAGA) Inc. went up in New Hampshire with a competing commercial that blasts Haley over gas taxes.
The dueling ads in the state that holds the first primary and second overall contest in the 2024 GOP presidential nominating calendar come as Haley, a former two-term South Carolina governor who later served as ambassador to the United Nations in the Trump administration, continues to gain momentum with less than four weeks to go until the first votes in the Republican race.
However, Trump, who is making his third straight White House run, remains the commanding front-runner in the hunt for the Republican nomination.
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"Of all the Republicans running for president, why is Donald Trump only attacking Nikki Haley? Because Trump knows Haley's the only one who can beat him," the narrator in the SFA spot claims.
The narrator emphasizes that "as governor, Nikki Haley cut taxes for small businesses by 40%, and now she's pledging to eliminate the federal gas tax."
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"Want an 80-year-old name from the past or a new generation of conservative leadership," the narrator says over pictures of 81-year-old President Biden and 77-year-old Trump. The ad then puts up a picture of the 51-year-old Haley with 49-year-old New Hampshire Republican Gov. Chris Sununu, who endorsed Haley last week.
SFA Fund tells Fox News they are spending seven figures to run their ad in New Hampshire.
Haley has enjoyed plenty of momentum in the polls in recent months, thanks in part to well-received performances in the first three GOP presidential primary debates. She leapfrogged over Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for second place in New Hampshire.
She also aims to make a fight of it in Iowa, where the polls indicate DeSantis is a distant second behind Trump. Iowa's Jan. 15 caucuses, which lead off the GOP nominating calendar, are followed eight days later by New Hampshire's Jan. 23 primary.
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Besides Sununu's support, Haley was endorsed a couple of weeks ago by Americans for Prosperity Action, the political wing of the influential and deep-pocketed fiscally conservative network founded by the billionaire Koch Brothers. AFP Action has pledged to spend tens of millions of dollars and mobilize its formidable grassroots operation to boost Haley and help push the Republican Party past Trump.
Haley comes under attack in the MAGA Inc. ad, which repeatedly calls her "high tax Haley" and charges that as governor she "flipped," breaking her pledge not to raise gas taxes.
MAGA Inc. spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt argued that "we won't let another tax-and-spend politician try to fool the voters."
A statement from Haley's campaign released on the eve of the MAGA Inc. spot said, "Nikki Haley never supported a stand-alone gas tax increase. In fact, then-Gov. Haley killed the gas tax hike pushed by the South Carolina legislature and industry groups."
"Donald Trump’s false attack ad sends a loud and clear message: Nikki Haley is surging and Trump is scared," said Haley campaign spokesperson Olivia Perez-Cubas emphasized in a statement.
