DeSantis super PAC hits Nikki Haley over links to Chinese company in new ad

As Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley continue their increasingly heated battle over who will become the top alternative 2024 presidential candidate behind former President Donald Trump, a super PAC backing the Florida governor is out with a new advertisement that criticizes Haley over her ties to a Chinese company.

Never Back Down, the super PAC backing DeSantis, released a 30-second spot on Wednesday, the second in less than two weeks, knocking Haley’s “dangerous judgment” when she was governor of South Carolina. The seven-figure ad buy is airing in Iowa and New Hampshire, the first two nominating states in the GOP primary calendar of which DeSantis needs a strong showing to turbocharge his campaign, and on national cable outlets Fox News, CNN, and Newsmax.

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At the center of the ad are claims that Haley gave 197 acres to Chinese company Jushi Group, the world’s leading fiberglass producer, to “set up shop” close to South Carolina’s Fort Jackson Army base. Jushi Group, according to the ad, has ties to the Chinese Communist Party officials and “supplies materials for the Red Army.”

Yet Haley’s campaign remains adamant that DeSantis has also wooed Chinese companies to the Sunshine State and is “lying about his record” as his campaign has struggled to overtake Trump’s dominance of the GOP primary field.

“Every governor running for president tried to recruit Chinese businesses to their state. Nikki Haley did it 10 years ago. Ron DeSantis is aggressively recruiting Chinese companies now,” her campaign said. “The facts are clear. DeSantis is lying about his record because he’s losing. That’s sad.”

A Washington Post fact-check said Haley’s stance that “we didn’t sell any land to the Chinese” was misleading, claiming that Jushi received “almost 200 acres of county-owned land free of charge if promised investments were made.”

Never Back Down, in lockstep with DeSantis, has increased its attacks against Haley as her poll numbers have started to rival DeSantis in recent months. A new Iowa poll from the Des Moines Register, NBC News, and Mediacom released on Monday showed the two candidates tied in second place at 16%, far below Trump, who pulled in 43% of support from Republican caucusgoers. However, in national polling averages, DeSantis leads Haley 12.6% to 8.3%.

In a sign of the heated battle to come before next year’s Iowa caucuses, Never Back Down sent out an email release from Iowa farmers last week who were concerned about Haley “rolling out the red carpet for China’s efforts to infiltrate America” and claimed that Haley had given nearly 1,500 acres of American land to Chinese companies.

“Gov. DeSantis understands our land is our most valuable resource and will fight for the American farmer. The one candidate who has the integrity to lead is DeSantis,” Lance Lillibridge, a former president of the Iowa Corn Growers Association, said in a statement.

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In its “Dangerous” ad released last week, Never Back Down claimed Haley gave Chinese companies tax breaks, subsidies, and free land. The Haley campaign in return pointed to one report that New Hampshire voters “rolled their eyes” over the allegations, and Stand For America PAC, the Haley-aligned group, hit back with its own ad claiming DeSantis was “losing, lying.”

The two candidates have tangled over other hot topic foreign policy areas, including the war between Israel and Hamas, which is sure to be a main topic during next week’s third GOP primary battle in Miami. With more of the field beginning to drop out, including former Vice President Mike Pence, pressure will only mount for the rest of the field to begin coalescing around one non-Trump candidate.