Democratic mega-donor and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman recently donated $250,000 to a super PAC supporting former South Carolina Republican Gov. Nikki Haley’s bid for the White House.
The donation – given to SFA Fund Inc., the top Haley-aligned super PAC – comes after Haley recently gained momentum in the Republican primary race and witnessed a surge in the polls.
First reported by the New York Times, the contribution was confirmed to Fox News Digital by Dmitri Mehlhorn, a political adviser to Hoffman. Hoffman declined to comment on the donation.
Despite the hefty contribution to the Haley-aligned PAC, Hoffman, a longtime Biden advocate who said he would support the incumbent’s re-election bid at the ballot box next fall, described his positioning on the issue in a Wednesday morning blog post on LinkedIn.
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The donation from Reid Hoffman – given to SFA Fund Inc., the top Nikki Haley-aligned super PAC – comes after Haley recently gained momentum in the Republican primary race and witnessed a surge in the polls. (Getty Images)
“In the 2024 election, I will enthusiastically vote for Joe Biden,” Hoffman prefaced the post. “First, to repeat, Biden is a good man and good politician who has been a history-making successful President during a time of crisis. He did not have to learn on the job.”
“While I am a staunch supporter of Biden and hope he will win a second term, I also provided financial support to Nikki Haley’s super PAC even though some polls show Haley doing better than Trump in a general election against Biden,” he added.
Hoffman, who previously helped rehab Jeffrey Epstein’s image and visited his island, said the donation was made in an effort to “defeat” former President Donald Trump.
“I did so because my first priority is American democracy and the integrity of our legal system,” he wrote. “That means my first priority is to defeat Trump, and the primary is the first of two chances to do so.”
Taking aim at Trump in the post, Hoffman insisted that the former president “will have a coin-flip chance of winning” if he’s the GOP nominee.
“As the nominee, Trump will get loyal support from the massive national Republican apparatus, and billions of dollars of financial support,” Hoffman said. “His campaign will be a campaign against American democracy and our rule of law system. And, as in 2016 and 2020, the election will be decided by a few tens of thousands of votes in states such as Arizona, Wisconsin, and Georgia.”
Fox News Digital reached out to SFA Fund Inc. about the donation, but did not receive a response.
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Following reports of the sizable donation from Hoffman, Haley faced criticism from Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ campaign for being supported by “Democrat billionaires.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and former President Donald Trump (Getty Images)
“I just found out that Democrats are funding Nikki Haley’s campaign,” Trump remarked Tuesday night during a town hall with Fox News Channel’s Sean Hannity.
Similarly, Bryan Griffin, the press secretary for DeSantis’ campaign, said in a statement, “It makes perfect sense that liberal Democrat billionaires would support Nikki Haley’s bid for the White House, because she is a liberal.”
“She would let corporations set immigration policy, roll out the red carpet for China, hike taxes on hardworking Americans, and require social media users to register with the government,” Griffin added. “Ron DeSantis is bearing the banner of conservatism in this nomination contest and will defeat the swamp, starting with Nikki Haley.”
Fox News Digital did not receive an immediate response from Haley’s campaign about the donation or the criticism she received over it from her challengers.
Haley has enjoyed momentum in the polls in recent months, thanks in part to well-received performances in the first three GOP presidential primary debates. She has also picked up a stream of strong endorsements in recent weeks, including one from Americans for Prosperity Action, the political wing of the influential and deep-pocketed fiscally conservative network founded by the billionaire Koch Brothers.
Haley recently showcased over 70 new Hawkeye State endorsements and launched a $10 million ad blitz in Iowa and New Hampshire last week.
Nikki Haley recently showcased over 70 new Hawkeye State endorsements and launched a $10 million ad blitz in Iowa and New Hampshire last week. (Fox News Photo/Joshua Comins)
Haley, who served as ambassador to the United Nations in Trump’s administration, has leapfrogged DeSantis for second place in New Hampshire and in her home state, which holds the first southern contest. She has also pulled even with DeSantis in some of the latest polls in Iowa, whose caucuses kick off the GOP nominating calendar on Jan. 15.
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But Haley and DeSantis remain far behind Trump, who continues to hold a commanding lead over the rest of the field as the former president makes his third straight White House run.