No. of Recommendations: 5
It's interesting not just for what the Koch network might do in support of Haley, but also what it says about their read of the race.
The Kochs don't financially support candidates in every cycle. They ended up sitting out the 2016 primary (and of course the 2020 primary), because there was no practical way for any of the candidates to beat Trump. So presumably, they believe that Haley has a primary path to victory.
It's kind of hard to see it - but maybe? I guess it's a bet that she can win South Carolina. SC is the biggest delegate state of the first five contests, and it's a "winner-take-most" state. If she can actually beat Trump there, she has an outside chance of taking the delegate lead even if she doesn't win any of the other ones, since IA, NH and NV have proportional allocation of delegates. If she can hang close in the first four contests - even losing 70-30 to Trump - she could still come out of SC with an actual delegate lead.
That's if she can win SC. Not sure she can - she's trailing Trump 50-20, and Trump is likely the second choice for a lot of DeSantis voters if he doesn't make it that far. But I guess that's the thin, unlikely path for her.
Or else they think she'll be a solid candidate in 2028.
