On Friday, Joe Biden’s re-election campaign released a new ad appealing to former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley’s supporters.
Haley, who lost the Republican presidential primary to former President Donald Trump, has taken criticism from the presumed GOP nominee, including being labeled with the unflattering nickname, “birdbrain.”
In the 30-second ad, clips of the former President are shown disparaging Haley with quotes including him calling her a “RINO” (Republican In Name Only), and describing his former United Nations Ambassador as, “not presidential timber.’ Trump is also depicted questioning the mental capacity of his GOP rival, saying, “she’s gone crazy, she’s a very angry person”, and “she’s gone haywire.”
In the campaign ad, Trump is shown saying,
I don’t need votes, we have all the votes we need.
The Biden/Harris message appears on the screen, telling audiences,
If you voted for Nikki Haley, Donald Trump doesn’t want your vote.
We don’t want [Haley supporters] and will not accept them.’
Haley supporters ‘will be permanently barred from the MAGA camp.’
Save America. Join us.
The communications director for Biden’s campaign, Michael Tyler, said,
Donald Trump has made it crystal clear he doesn’t want support from voters who cast their ballot for Nikki Haley so let us be equally clear: there is a home for everyone on this campaign who knows Donald Trump cannot be back in the White House.
Joe Biden is building a broad and diverse coalition of voters who want more freedoms not less, who want to protect our democracy, and who want to live in a country that is safe from the chaos, division, and violence that another Donald Trump presidency would bring.
Joe Biden posted a similar message along with the new campaign ad on his X, formerly Twitter, account.
He wrote,
Nikki Haley voters, Donald Trump doesn’t want your vote. I want to be clear: There is a place for you in my campaign.
The Biden campaign outlined its strategy to spend more than $1 million airing the ad on digital platforms in battleground states, saying it will be,
…targeting Nikki Haley voters in predominantly suburban zip codes where she performed well against Trump.
Unnamed Biden officials indicated that influential figures, including Jeffrey Katzenberg, the Hollywood mogul and campaign co-chair, had engaged with “people in Haley’s orbit.”
After Super Tuesday, Haley withdrew from the Republican primary, having secured only minor victories in Washington D.C. and Vermont. During her concession speech, she said,
It is now up to Donald Trump to earn the votes of those in our party and beyond who did not support him and I hope he does that.
After Haley dropped out, Biden said,
Nikki Haley was willing to speak the truth about Trump: about the chaos that always follows him, about his inability to see right from wrong, about his cowering before Vladimir Putin. Donald Trump made it clear he doesn’t want Nikki Haley’s supporters. I want to be clear: There is a place for them in my campaign.
Haley has not endorsed Trump and has said she no longer feels bound by the Republican National Committee’s pledge to support the party’s eventual nominee.
