Mike Pence’s political operation has poached a top adviser to Nikki Haley as the two jostle for a position in the looming 2024 GOP presidential contest.
Tim Chapman, who had been serving as the executive director of Haley’s political nonprofit, has departed to join the Pence team. Chapman will be a senior adviser to Pence’s nonprofit, Advancing American Freedom.
While former President Donald Trump is the only major declared candidate in Republicans’ 2024 primary, the move comes as competition in a shadow primary heats up, with Republicans jockeying for top staff and donors ahead of expected campaign announcements. Chapman’s defection is possibly the first instance of a top aide to one likely candidate jumping to another.
“I am grateful for my time working with Nikki Haley and her dedicated team,” Chapman said in a statement. “Advancing American Freedom is one of the fastest growing and increasingly influential conservative groups in the nation, and I am thrilled to join the incredible team that is building AAF as a leader for common sense conservative policies that will help restore America.”
Betsy Ankney, the executive director of Haley’s political action committee, responded in a statement: “Tim Chapman is terrific and we’re happy he found a great spot to continue to advocate for conservative policy ideas.”
Chapman joined the Haley team in early 2020 to establish and oversee Stand for America, which served as a platform to help the former UN ambassador promote her policy agenda ahead of an anticipated 2024 campaign. He has a long history in conservative politics, having been a co-founder of Heritage Action, a conservative political action group, and as chief of staff of its allied nonprofit Heritage Foundation.
Chapman was also a top aide to former South Carolina Sen. Jim DeMint when DeMint established the Senate Conservatives Fund, an organization that backed Senate candidates who often ran to the right of more establishment-aligned contenders in key races.
Chapman’s relationship with Pence dates back to the early 2000s, when Chapman was at the Heritage Foundation and Pence was an Indiana congressman, according to a person close to both of them.
What role Chapman would potentially play in a Pence campaign is unclear. In a statement, the former vice president called Chapman “one of the brightest stars in the conservative movement, and we are so thrilled he’s joining the team to advance the cause of American culture, American opportunity, and American leadership.”
The staff poaching represents the latest turn in a long-simmering rivalry between the Pence and Haley camps. During the 2020 campaign, Pence’s advisers blamed Haley for rumors that she would replace Pence on the ticket. In a forthcoming memoir, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo asserts that Haley was privately jockeying to push out Pence, though Haley has insisted the claims are “lies and gossip.”
Further complicating the dynamic between Pence and Haley is the long-term overlap between key parts of their teams. Nick Ayers, a Georgia-based political operative, served for a time as Pence’s White House chief of staff and has also advised Haley. Jon Lerner, a longtime Republican pollster, served as an adviser to both Haley and Pence during the Trump administration. Lerner has also been working for Haley as she prepares for the presidential race.
Now, the two appear to be on a collision course. Pence has been on a media tour promoting his newly released memoir, “So Help Me God,” and he has begun building out his political operation.
Haley, meanwhile, teased a potential campaign theme during a Thursday appearance on Fox News. “I think we need a young generation to come in, step up and really start fixing things,” she said. “Can I be that leader? Yes, I think I can be that leader.”
Read more here at Politico.com.
After serving as vice president of the United States, Mike Pence created a new organization dedicated to promoting and defending the policies he championed during his four years in office.
To lead this new organization, he tapped Paul Teller, a veteran of Capitol Hill who worked for Pence and President Donald Trump in the White House. Teller is now executive director of Advancing American Freedom.
Today, the organization is helping to shape the agenda for conservatives, the new Congress, and our next president. Teller joins “The Daily Signal Podcast” to talk about the Freedom Agenda and more. Read a lightly edited transcript or listen to the interview.
Read or listen to the full interview on the Daily Signal here.
OPINION:
As tens of thousands gather on the National Mall for the first March for Life since the conservative majority on the Supreme Court righted the historic wrong of Roe v. Wade, we come to a time of great promise and opportunity in the cause of life.
The right to life has both defined and animated the conservative movement since the days of President Ronald Reagan. For more than 40 years, the pro-life cause has been the glue that binds together all factions of the modern conservative coalition. Now, a new era in American history is beginning in which all human beings, born and unborn, can once again be cherished in life and protected by law.
But the battle for life is far from over. We have only reached the end of the beginning.
Now is not the time for our leaders to be hesitant or indecisive. We did not arrive at the dawn of a post-Roe America by being timid. We got here through perseverance, passion, hard work and faith. Now, as we move forward, we must have the courage of our convictions.
The conservative movement must continue to push forward ambitiously until the scourge of abortion is purged from our society and respect for the sanctity of life is returned to the center of American law in every state in the nation.
Our new Republican majority in Congress has embraced this ambitious approach by passing the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, sending a resounding message that Republicans will continue to defend life.
In the weeks ahead, I encourage conservatives in Congress to also work to end federal taxpayer funding of abortion once and for all and to reinstate the ban on funding for Planned Parenthood implemented under the Trump-Pence administration. To prevent liberal politicians from erasing our progress, conservatives should pass a law permanently banning funding for abortions overseas. Here at home, we should adopt strong gestational limits that outlaw abortion once a heartbeat is detected or an unborn child is capable of feeling pain.
Second, conservatives should work to end all federal funding of destructive fetal tissue research, which treats the bodies of aborted unborn children like a commodity. Instead, we should support ethical, non-destructive research using adult stem cells.
Finally, conservatives must remember that to be truly pro-life, we must also be pro-adoption. That’s why we must end the assault on faith-based adoption and foster care agencies that exclusively place children into families with one male father and one female mother. Conservatives should also work with state and local governments, churches, and nonprofit organizations to promote adoption, foster care and crisis pregnancy centers.
History has proved that when Republicans stand for life unapologetically and contrast our commonsense positions with the extremism of the pro-abortion left, voters reward us with victories at the ballot box.
I encourage conservatives to keep pushing forward at the dawn of this new era. If we stick to our principles and proudly champion the cause of life, we will win more than elections — we will save the lives of precious unborn children created in the image of God.
Read more here.
