Updated July 24, 2024 at 22:14 PM ET
A group of anti-Trump voters who supported former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley in the Republican presidential primary is responding to a cease and desist letter from Haley demanding that they stop using her name in support of Vice President Kamala Harris.
"Kamala Harris and I are total opposites on every issue. Any attempt to use my name to support her or her agenda is deceptive and wrong," Haley said in a statement. "I support Donald Trump because he understands we need to make America strong, safe, and prosperous."
The Haley Voters for Harris political action committee was formerly known as Haley Voters for Biden, until President Biden dropped out of the presidential race.
The PAC, officially know as PIVOTPAC, was set up to encourage former Haley supporters, many of whom expressed doubts about both Biden and former President Trump, to vote for the Democratic nominee.
According to its FEC filings, it has raised nearly $400,000 in the past year. Most of that money has come from anti-Trump groups. It did not spend any of those funds until February, with its first major expenditure coming with ads on Facebook on March 6, the same day Haley dropped out of the race for president.
In a letter on Haley’s behalf, attorney Michael G. Adams demands that the group stop any use of Haley’s “name, image or likeness that implies her support for the election of Kamala Harris as President of the United States.”
Haley Voters for Harris said in a statement that it does not claim to speak on behalf of Haley or her views.
We enthusiastically supported @NikkiHaley over former President Trump in the primaries.
— Haley Voters for Harris (@HaleyVte4Harris) July 23, 2024
Our rights to engage with likeminded voters and encourage them to vote for @KamalaHarris - the clear better choice for the country - will not be suppressed.
Statement below: https://t.co/o6gHlFkmyZ pic.twitter.com/EhW8FAipiv
“There are many other like minded 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 said.
In an interview with NPR, Haley Voters for Harris director Craig Snyder said the group’s name is “a factual statement of the way a lot of people feel and the way a lot of people intend to vote in November.”
In a statement, Austin Weatherford the National Republican Engagement Director for the Harris campaign said the "millions of Republicans" who "rejected Donald Trump’s extremism during the primaries" are welcome.
"Those voters have a home in the Harris campaign’s coalition," Weatherford continued. "While the MAGA movement continues to push away voters who care about the future of our democracy, standing strong with our allies against foreign adversaries, and working across the aisle to get things done for the American people, the Harris campaign will keep working hard to earn their support.”
After initially declining to endorse Trump, Haley ultimately backed him and delivered a speech at the Republican National Convention encouraging her supporters to do the same. During her campaign, Haley told voters that Biden was likely to step aside and be replaced by Harris.
“Ambassador Haley’s made it clear that she’s joined the Trump train, and that’s her prerogative, but the voters that voted for her are gonna make up their own minds,” Snyder said.
Copyright 2024 NPR
