Nikki Haley launching $10m ad campaign to try to overtake Ron DeSantis in the GOP primary

Nikki Haley’s presidential campaign will reserve $10 million in television, radio and digital advertising across Iowa and New Hampshire beginning in the first week of December, a massive investment designed to give the former United Nations ambassador an advantage over Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at a critical moment in the GOP nomination fight.

Details of the advertising plans, which represent the Haley campaign’s first official advertising reservation, are obtained by The Associated Press ahead of a public announcement expected later today. Haley’s planned investment, as of now, is more than five times larger than DeSantis’s current advertising reserves for the same time period, according to the media tracking firm AdImpact.

Haley’s move comes as she fights to emerge as the clear alternative to former president Donald Trump to represent the GOP against US President Joe Biden next fall. DeSantis stands as Haley’s strongest competition for her party’s second-place slot, although the Florida governor’s campaign has shown signs of financial strain following a tumultuous summer.