The “Haley Voters for Harris” political action committee, which had been working with President Biden’s and rebranded to support Vice President’s Kamala Harris’ campaign, has gotten a cease and desist letter from former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley.
In a letter sent Tuesday by a law firm representing Haley’s presidential campaign, they wrote the group must “cease and desist from any unlawful use of Ambassador Haley’s name in your political action committee name, and from any use of her name, image or likeness that implies her support for the election of Kamala Harris as President of the United States.”
“Ambassador Haley has been clear in her support of Harris’ opponent. Any intimation that Ambassador Haley supports Harris is intentionally false and misleading,” the letter added.
This was first reported by Fox News.
In response, the Haley Voters for Harris group said they are reviewing the letter with legal counsel, and that they “do not claim to represent Ambassador Haley or her views.”
Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images, REUTERS/Vincent Alban
“Our rights to engage with voters and encourage them to vote for Vice President Harris – who in our view is the clear better choice for the country – will not be suppressed,” the group said in a statement.
The group, made up of anti-Trump supporters and volunteers during Haley’s GOP primary campaign, had been working with the then-Biden campaign as Haley continued to receive hundreds of thousands of GOP primary votes despite leaving the race shortly after Super Tuesday in March.
But since Mr. Biden dropped out of the race on Sunday, the group has shifted their support to Harris, who Mr. Biden endorsed. While Harris has received enough pledged support from delegates to become the likely nominee, there will not be an official nominee until the party holds their virtual roll call, which is expected to happen in early August.
In several battleground states, Haley’s raw vote total outnumbered the 2020 general election margin between Mr. Biden and Trump. In Pennsylvania, where Mr. Biden won by more than 80,000 votes, Haley got 16.6% of the vote, 158,000 votes, in the GOP primary this year.
Austin Weatherford, the Harris campaign’s national Republican engagement director, said Haley and non-Trump Republican voters still have a home with their campaign.
“Our democracy is at its best when Americans speak up and participate in the election process,” he said. “While the MAGA movement continues to push away voters who care about the future of our democracy, standing strong with our allies against foreign adversaries, and working across the aisle to get things done for the American people, the Harris campaign will keep working hard to earn their support.”
Weatherford is also a former aide to former Republican Rep. Adam Kinzinger, who has been vocally against Trump and supportive of Harris since Mr. Biden stepped down and endorsed her.
The Haley Voters for Harris group has suggested Harris pick a moderate for her running mate, and cited specifically Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear.
“Unlike Joe Biden, we believe she doesn’t need to consolidate her base,” a senior adviser said, citing initial enthusiasm from Democratic voters about her candidacy. “And so we hope that her campaign will be focused on expanding to the center of the country.”
“We feel that our work in some ways is almost more important, because she’s less defined to the public and Republicans are trying to paint her in a way that is not reflective of reality,” they added.
During her presidential campaign, Haley often suggested proactively that Harris would end up becoming the Democratic nominee, citing Mr. Biden’s age.
While she was also critical of former president Donald Trump during her primary run, Haley has since given the GOP nominee her “strong endorsement.” In a July speech at the Republican National Convention, she said Trump’s invitation for her to speak was “gracious.”
“If we have four more years of Biden or a single day of Harris, our country will be badly worse off,” Haley said in her convention speech, which was before Mr. Biden dropped out of the race. “For the sake of our nation, we have to go with Donald Trump.”
