Nikki Haley, the former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, is reportedly slated to be the star guest at a dinner this month with New York’s top Republican donors.
Haley is expected to be honored at the Feb. 27 dinner organized by hedge fund manager Paul Singer, Axios reported Sunday. The event is part of a series designed to highlight surrogates ahead of the 2020 House and Senate elections.
Singer aims to recruit female candidates to support Republicans’ efforts to keep control of the Senate and take back the majority in the House, which the GOP lost after the November midterm elections. The hedge fund magnate is also backing E-PAC, a new political action committee started by Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., designed to find female candidates for office.
Haley, who served as governor of South Carolina before joining the Trump administration, announced her decision in October to resign her post as U.S. ambassador to the U.N. and ultimately left the position at the end of 2018.
Haley’s attendance at the upcoming dinner in New York led conservative commentator Bill Kristol to suggest top GOP donors may consider her a candidate to primary President Trump in 2020.
“Alarm bells going off in Trump world as Nikki Haley to be guest of honor at top GOP dinner. Ostensible purpose: ‘To spotlight key surrogates for the congressional races of 2020.’ Effectual truth: To spotlight a possible replacement for Trump in 2020,” Kristol tweeted Sunday.
Alarm bells going off in Trump world as Nikki Haley to be guest of honor at top GOP donor dinner. Ostensible purpose: “To spotlight key surrogates for the congressional races of 2020.” Effectual truth: To spotlight a possible replacement for Trump in 2020.https://t.co/LLwvKDXXMs
— Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) February 10, 2019
But political journalists were quick to dismiss the suggestion Haley would challenge Trump for the Republican nomination. When Haley announced her resignation in October, she said she was not running for president in 2020.
“There’s little doubt that Haley would be a likely candidate IF Trump didn’t run in 2020 for one reason or another. There is a whole lot of doubt that she would try to primary Trump. Either way, she reconnects with a donor network that she has ties to through this dinner,” New York Times White House correspondent Maggie Haberman tweeted.
There’s little doubt that Haley would be a likely candidate IF Trump didn’t run in 2020 for one reason or another. There is a whole lot of doubt that she would try to primary Trump. Either way, she reconnects with a donor network that she has ties to through this dinner. https://t.co/idT6NLTBqe
— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) February 10, 2019
“0% chance Nikki Haley primaries Trump in 2020,” Politico White House reporter Eliana Johnson said in a tweet.
0% chance Nikki Haley primaries Trump in 2020. https://t.co/njMIQ1lqzs
— Eliana Johnson (@elianayjohnson) February 10, 2019
