Nikki Haley and her PAC are outperforming all of their Republican rivals in the final week of the Iowa race as the former South Carolina governor launches a TV advertising offensive.
While Donald Trump has a staggering 30-point lead over the rest of the Republican field, Haley is currently in third place ahead of the Iowa caucus. She is fighting with Florida Governor Ron DeSantis to gain momentum for the next vote in New Hampshire.
DeSantis, whose campaign has failed in recent weeks, is throwing everything he has at Iowa: His entire campaign staff has moved to the state, and he has personally visited each of Iowa's 99 counties.
DeSantis is currently at 19 percent and Haley is at 16. Trump is at 51 percent.
Determined to fight through the Jan. 15 caucus, Haley is spending $2.83 million on television advertising between Jan. 8 and Jan. 15.
DeSantis is spending $1.66 million, Trump is spending $1.42 million.
Nikki Haley appears in Des Moines, Iowa on Monday night, spending over $2.83 million on television advertising in the final week of the Iowa race
Vivek Ramaswamy, the political newcomer and entrepreneur, is trailing the rest of the field but announced Monday that he will resume advertising spending in Iowa this week – after stopping in December, which he denounced as a waste of money.
The 38-year-old said last month that TV ad spending “is idiotic, has a low ROI and is a ploy used by political consultants to deceive low-IQ candidates.”
In an interview with Fox News, he reiterated: “I'm running this campaign the same way I would run a company, with a real IQ and a real brain that won't be taken lightly by political consultants .” And I think that’s ultimately what will lead us to success here.”
According to NBC News, Ramaswamy's campaign has reserved $22,500 worth of TV ad time next week.
Tricia McLaughlin, communications director for the Ramaswamy campaign, told the network that the campaign is “following the data and having fun.”
Haley was in Iowa on Monday, running against Joe Biden, who spent the day in her home state.
Haley can be seen on stage at Fox News Town Hall on Monday night
Donald Trump is seen at a campaign rally in Clinton, Iowa on Saturday
Biden ascended to the pulpit of Mother Emanuel, a historic AME church in Charleston where nine Black parishioners were shot and killed by a white gunman in June 2015. They were killed while praying during a Bible study on Wednesday evening.
As governor at the time of the shooting, Haley gained national attention for her response, which included signing legislation to remove the Confederate battle flag from the Statehouse grounds.
During her previous campaigns, Haley had spoken out against removing the flag, portraying an opponent's call for it as a political ploy.
But Haley found herself on the defensive for not specifically citing slavery as the root cause of the Civil War when the question was asked at a campaign rally.
Her campaign responded Monday with a list of comments attributed to Biden that said he was racially insensitive.
During his speech on Monday, Biden called it a “lie” that the war is about states' rights.
“For Biden to show up there and give a political speech is offensive in itself,” Haley said Monday night during a town hall on Fox News in Des Moines, Iowa.
“I don’t need someone who wrestled with segregationists in the ’70s and made racist comments throughout their careers to lecture me or anyone in South Carolina about what it means to be racist, or slavery, or anything related of civil society.'War.'
Joe Biden was in Charleston, South Carolina, on Monday and spoke at the AME Church – the site of a mass shooting in 2015. He called white supremacy a “poison” that continues to haunt the nation
Haley is also under attack from her Republican rivals.
On Monday, Trump's super PAC released a video featuring an old clip of the then-governor of South Carolina urging the audience not to call people who entered the U.S. illegally “criminals.”
Those comments came a month after Trump's 2015 campaign kickoff speech in which he said immigrants from Mexico bring drugs and crime with them.
The DeSantis campaign also released its closing speech to the Iowa caucuses, in which it took Haley to task for her recent comments to New Hampshire voters about having the opportunity to “correct” the decision made by Iowa's Election Day voters. — a comment that might signal that she doesn't. She just doesn't expect to win Iowa, but she also doesn't expect to finish second to DeSantis.
Haley on Monday repeatedly accused DeSantis of “lying because he's losing” and said Trump's allies intentionally misinterpreted what she said.