Former South Carolina governor and GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley must pay an extra $75,000 to qualify for the Florida primary ballot.

Haley did not attend this weekend’s Republican Party of Florida’s “Freedom Summit,” which led to the substantially higher price to make the state’s list of candidates.

In total, Haley must pay $100,000 to qualify for Florida’s primary ballot.

NBC News reports Nikki Haley will skip the Florida Freedom Summit happening today.

Representatives from every Florida county will be there.

Haley is rumored to have bailed out when she realized the avalanche of ads hitting her in Iowa and New Hampshire and is running out of money.

Florida has 7 media markets and is a very expensive state to compete in. Also, because she bailed, she now has to pay $100k instead of the $25k to get on the Florida ballot.

How many other states will Haley skip as she runs out of money?

The list of GOP presidential contenders attending the event include Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy, Tim Scott, Chris Christie, Doug Burgum, and Asa Hutchinson.

NBC News reports:

A Florida GOP official confirmed to NBC News that Haley told them she will not be in attendance at the Orlando event this Saturday due to family reasons. Those attending the event, which include most major Republican presidential candidates, will have to pay just $25,000 to appear on Florida’s March primary ballot, while those not in attendance will pay $100,000 for ballot access.

Haley’s campaign did not return a request seeking comment.

The absence comes as Haley’s presidential campaign has picked up steam over the past month or so.

She has been rising into second place in early-state polls, and she turned in well-received performances in the GOP’s first two presidential debates.

With Nikki Haley rising to second place in some polls, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is now spending time attacking the former United Nations ambassador.

The Associated Press reports:

While DeSantis has struggled in recent months, Haley has been rising with donors and voters thanks in part to strong debate performances and the campaign’s increased focus on foreign policy after Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack on Israel. In many ways, Haley presents exactly what key Republican donors say they are seeking: an experienced conservative leader and foreign policy hawk whose profile as a woman of color — she is the daughter of Indian immigrants — could help the GOP broaden its appeal in the general election against Democratic President Joe Biden.

But just over 10 weeks before Iowa’s caucuses launch the GOP nomination calendar, none of the would-be Trump alternatives has broken out. And his grip on the 2024 nomination is as strong as ever.

“There was a lot of donor support for Ron DeSantis at the start, but I think many donors today have stayed on the sidelines because either they fear retribution from Trump or they believe that Trump is inevitable,” said Marc Short, a longtime senior adviser to former Vice President Mike Pence, who ended his presidential campaign on Saturday.

A Des Moines Register poll published Monday shows Haley tied with DeSantis for second in Iowa, which hold the first-in-the-nation GOP caucuses on Jan. 15. Both candidates are at 16%. That’s 27 percentage points behind Trump, whose support was virtually unchanged since August in spite of several criminal indictments and fears that he might lose again to Biden.

Haley and DeSantis are in an increasingly expensive battle against each other as they head into the third Republican primary debate next week. Trump will skip the prime-time event, as he has the first two debates. Some super political action committees allied with Haley and DeSantis have spent more than $2.5 million combined over the past week running attack ads against each other that are largely focused on China, according to tracking firm AdImpact.

Watch coverage of the Florida Freedom Summit at RSBN:

 

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