The Biden-Harris campaign is targeting supporters of former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley and moderate Republicans in an effort to prevent Donald Trump from being reelected. The campaign has hired Austin Weatherford, former chief of staff to Rep. Adam Kinzinger, as the national Republican engagement director to lead outreach efforts to independents and moderate Republicans who view Trump as a danger to the country. Moderate Republicans who supported Haley’s presidential run have been a focus of the campaign since she dropped out of the race in March, as they may play a key role in battleground states where their votes outnumbered Biden’s margin of victory in 2020.
The campaign has been actively engaging with former GOP members of Congress through Zoom calls and is partnering with the Haley Voters Working Group, an anti-Trump group of Haley supporters who either support or are undecided about supporting Biden. The group is hiring more staff across battleground states, and their new director will be Craig Snyder, a veteran of national GOP political consulting. The group supports Biden’s recent actions and views him as governing for all Americans, contrasting him with Trump. Despite policy differences between Biden and Haley supporters, the group is working to court over one million Haley voters across swing states.
The Biden campaign began efforts to reach out to Haley supporters in early March and has since run ads featuring Trump criticizing Haley. Moving forward, the campaign plans to appeal to these voters’ concerns about threats to democracy and the Constitution under a second Trump term. The campaign will also build up an outreach program specifically geared towards Republicans led by GOP supporters of Biden for more authentic conversations. However, some doubt whether these efforts will be successful, as potential blowback from Trump and his supporters may dissuade Republican candidates and lawmakers from publicly backing Biden.
The campaign is in touch with possible Republican endorsers but is keeping their announcements for closer to November to maximize impact. Notable GOP endorsements were unveiled after the Democratic National Convention in 2020. Despite initially saying she would vote for Trump, Haley urged him to earn the votes of those who did not support him. Trump, who had been critical of Haley during the primary race, softened his stance on her following a rally in the Bronx. However, in a recent interview, he expressed disappointment with Haley for staying in the race too long, indicating that some people would be fine with her as his running mate while others would be disappointed.
