Months after endorsing Haley, Koch Network is suspending support for her campaign

The political network created by the billionaire industrialist Koch brothers announced Sunday that it was suspending its support for Nikki Haley in the presidential primaries following her latest defeat in South Carolina.

The group, Americans for Prosperity Action, had spent tens of millions of dollars trying to elevate Ms. Haley and prevent the renomination of Donald J. Trump, but had already dramatically slowed its spending in the Republican race after Ms. Haley fell short in the election. the New Hampshire primary last month. The organization made its decision official on Sunday.

“Given the challenges in the primary states ahead, we do not believe an outside group can make a material difference to broaden her path to victory,” Emily Seidel, the CEO of Americans for Prosperity Action, wrote in an email email to staff. . The email was first reported by Politico.

Ms. Seidel wrote that the group would now focus on House and Senate races, adding that the conservative organization remained concerned about the political aftershocks of Mr. Trump winning the Republican nomination.

“If Donald Trump is at the top of the Republican ticket, the risk of one-party rule by a Democratic Party captured by the progressive left is high,” she wrote.

Ms. Seidel described how the last three elections had shown “what we can expect from voters who have consistently rejected Donald Trump and his impact on the Republican party brand.”

Ms. Haley’s campaign had announced that it had raised $1 million in the less than 24 hours since polls closed in South Carolina on Saturday and she lost her home state. She has pledged to stay in the race through Super Tuesday, March 5.

In a statement, the Haley campaign praised the Americans for Prosperity Action as an ally.

“We thank them for their tremendous help in this race,” the statement said. “Our fight continues, and with over $1 million coming in from grassroots conservatives in the last 24 hours, we have plenty of fuel to keep going. We have a country to save.”

The group’s endorsement, announced in November, was crucial for Ms. Haley. It came as she tried to gain traction with Mr. Trump, especially given how small her team was at the time. It gave her access to a direct-mail operation, field workers to knock on doors and people to make calls to potential voters in Iowa and other states.

Despite these efforts, however, Ms. Haley came a distant second to Mr. Trump in Iowa. One person close to the network said that in its latest stretch into South Carolina, it had focused on reaching grassroots voters, rather than advertising.

After word of the group’s withdrawal became public, Trump posted on his social media website that Charles Koch “and his group were played as suckers from the start!”