00:00 Top officials from the campaigns of Nikki Haley, Ron DeSantis and Tim Scott made their
00:05 case Friday to major Republican donors, as they compete to position themselves as the
00:10 most viable alternative to former President Donald Trump.
00:14 To a room of prospective top donors gathered in Texas, the DeSantis team argued that if
00:20 Haley was out of the race, her ballot share would bounce around to candidates other than
00:25 Trump, one attendee told CNN.
00:27 But if DeSantis was no longer in the race, his campaign argued, his supporters would
00:33 largely move to Trump, meaning the Florida governor's presence in the race was a greater
00:38 threat to Trump's chances at the nomination.
00:41 DeSantis himself made that argument publicly while campaigning in New Hampshire on Friday,
00:47 telling reporters, "If I wasn't in the picture, most of those voters who are going
00:52 to caucus for me would go to Trump, they would not go to Haley.
00:56 People can support who they want, but let's just not kid ourselves that the nominee for
01:01 the GOP is either going to be Donald Trump or it's going to be me.
01:06 There's not a path for anybody else," DeSantis added.
01:09 The DeSantis campaign also presented donors with Iowa polling that shows movement since
01:14 the second debate.
01:15 "We are moving at the right time," a DeSantis adviser told the group, according to a second
01:21 attendee.
01:22 They also argued the best path to stopping Trump is in Iowa and said the DeSantis campaign
01:28 is the one best positioned in the Hawkeye state, according to a person familiar with
01:33 their pitch.
01:34 The presentation also included an explanation about how their campaign is in better position
01:39 financially than it was during the summer.
01:41 The campaign advisers for DeSantis and Haley were ushered in right before and outright
01:47 after their respective presentations today, the second attendee added, so neither side
01:52 could hear their rival's specific argument.
01:55 A source familiar with the arguments from Haley's camp said her team made the case
01:59 that the former South Carolina governor and United Nations ambassador is ahead of DeSantis
02:05 in New Hampshire and South Carolina and tied in Iowa.
02:08 By every metric, Nikki is moving up and Ron is moving down, the person said.
02:14 It is a two-person race, one man and one woman.
02:17 Her camp also noted that Haley previously announced she ended the third quarter with
02:22 $9 million in available cash for the primary, surpassing the $5 million in primary dollars
02:28 that the DeSantis campaign said it had on hand.
02:31 DeSantis has relied heavily on a super PAC to underwrite his advertising and campaign
02:37 infrastructure.
02:38 Scott's team also spoke to the donors' meeting, according to a source familiar, with
02:43 staff presenting data about his rising favorability ratings in early states like Iowa and New
02:49 Hampshire.
02:50 They argued the South Carolina senator can compete in the lane pursuing evangelical voters,
02:56 the source said, and maintained half of that group are not committed to former Trump, are
03:01 still up for grabs and make up a significant portion of the GOP electorate in Iowa.
03:07 They also pointed to Scott's support of a 15-week national abortion ban as popular with
03:12 the voters they need in the Hawkeye state.
03:15 The event was organized by the American Opportunity, a group whose members are among some of biggest
03:21 names in Republican financial circles, including hedge fund billionaires Paul Singer and Ken
03:26 Griffin, real estate developer Harlan Crowe and some members of the Ricketts family A
03:31 whose patriarch, Joe Ricketts, founded the brokerage giant TD Ameritrade.
03:37 The meeting comes as some Republican donors voice growing concerns about Trump's dominance
03:42 over the rest of the Republican field and publicly fret he will lose the general election
03:47 if the party nominates him next.
Comments