Billionaire Ken Langone to meet with Nikki Haley in NY as he weighs backing her in 2024

Home Depot co-founder and billionaire Ken Langone plans to meet with former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley next week in New York, as he considers backing her in the Republican presidential primary.

“The only person I see who can give [Donald] Trump a run for his money is Nikki Haley,” Langone told CNBC in an interview Monday, referring to the former president and current Republican frontrunner.

Langone declined to give the date of the meeting, but the former South Carolina governor is scheduled to be in New York on Dec. 4, for a fundraising event co-hosted by attorney Eric Levine.

Before Langone would commit to hosting his own fundraiser for Haley, however, he said he wanted to meet with her in person.

A spokesperson for the Haley campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Langone’s interest in backing Haley over his previous first choice, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, has been growing for several months. He began to sour on DeSantis after the Florida governor signed a six-week abortion ban bill in April, he told CNBC.

“I think he’s come across too hardass,” Langone said of DeSantis’ position on abortion.

Langone said he supported Haley’s stance on abortion, which is that individual states should decide the issue. Earlier this month, Haley said that if the South Carolina state legislature had passed a six-week abortion ban while she was governor, she would have signed it.

Langone has contributed to both Haley and DeSantis, but Langone’s most recent donation to one of them was to the Florida governor this summer, according to Federal Election Commission records.

If Langone were to switch teams, and help Haley raise money, he would join a growing list of Republican financiers who are aligning themselves with Haley.

In recent weeks, Haley has gained momentum and increasingly appears to be…