Former South Carolina Governor and Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley is demanding a PAC representing disillusioned voters who voted for her in the primary but are now supporting Vice President Kamala Harris immediately stop using her name.
Originally calling themselves “Haley Voters for Biden,” the PAC officially titled “PIVOTPAC” has since rebranded as “Haley Voters for Harris” (abbreviated as “HV4H”) after President Joe Biden announced he was dropping out of the race.
Haley's lawyer sent a cease-and-desist letter threatening to file a complaint with the Federal Election Commission to “request the maximum sanctions” if the PAC used any name that included “Nikki” or “Haley.”
Mediaite reports:
The letter emphasized that Haley “has been clear in her support of Harris' opponent” — not using Trump's name for some reason — and argued that “[a]ny intimation that Ambassador Haley supports Harris is intentionally false and misleading, and if made in connection with a solicitation, fraudulent.” If HV4H engaged in any fundraising as “Haley Voters for Harris” or another similar name, the lawyers threatened to “alert appropriate investigative authorities (including but not limited to cybercrimes divisions of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Department of Justice) that your organization may be engaged in intentional misrepresentations to the public in violation of 18 U.S.C. §1343.”
Haley Voters For Harris posted a defiant response on X.
“We enthusiastically supported Ambassador Haley over former President Trump in the primaries and our mission is to encourage likeminded voters to vote for Vice President Harris in November,” the statement said. “We do not claim to represent Ambassador Haley or her views. There are many other likeminded Haley voters who also do not plan to support former President Trump in November.”
“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 statement concluded.
According to NPR, HV4H has raised about $400,000 in the past year, mostly from other anti-Trump groups. The PAC's website seems to still be in the middle of shifting gears from Biden to Harris — there are multiple references to “HV4B” still visible — but the disclaimer at the bottom of each page clearly states, “Paid for by PivotPAC and not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee. Statements expressed on this site are our own and may not reflect Nikki Haley's or Vice President Harris's views.”
Mediaite reached out to HV4H director Craig Snyder for comment, and he replied that although the PAC had “never intended to be primarily funded by small dollar donors, we have in fact received many such contributions in the last 24 hours, with donors coming from 13 states as of last count.”
“Many of these donations have been accompanied by strongly worded messages of support for the free-speech rights of Haley voters who support Vice President Harris' candidacy to call themselves exactly that,” Snyder continued.
Snyder also noted that Haley's cease-and-desist letter contributed to HV4H getting “millions of views” across their social media platforms.
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