Koch Network to Work Against Trump in 2024

Coalition of political donors to GOP says country needs 'a new chapter'
By Bob Cronin,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 5, 2023 4:35 PM CST
Koch Network to Work Against Trump in 2024
Charles Koch, chief executive officer of Koch Industries, at the Broadmoor Resort in Colorado Springs, Colo., in 2019.   (AP Photo/David Zalubowski, File)

Charles Koch's network of donors and organizations will use its political and financial might to keep Donald Trump from winning the presidency in 2024. "The best thing for the country would be to have a president in 2025 who represents a new chapter," Emily Seidel, chief executive of Americans for Prosperity, the flagship group, said in memo released Sunday, the Washington Post reports. The organization launched by billionaires David and Charles Koch, though it spends millions supporting Republican candidates and causes, stayed out of presidential primary fight for the last couple of cycles. It promises now to take a leading role in keeping Trump from a second term.

"Lots of people are frustrated," Seidel said in the memo. "But very few people are in a position to do something about it. AFP is. Now is the time to rise to the occasion." She said the GOP has been nominating "bad candidates who are advocating for things that go against core American principles." Better candidates are needed, she said, which will require involvement earlier in the process, especially in primaries, per Axios. The memo didn't mention Trump's name, though the meaning was clear, and an organization official confirmed to CNN that it won't back the former president's candidacy.

The network includes hundreds of donors and has influenced politics for 15 years. It spent almost $500 million in the 2020 cycle, per the New York Times. The memo was sent after a weekend conference of affiliated donors and activists in Palm Springs, California. David Koch died in 2019. His brother remains active and has been able to marshal Republican donors who disagree on certain issues to influence others. (More Americans for Prosperity stories.)

Get the news faster.
Tap to install our app.
X
Install the Newser News app
in two easy steps:
1. Tap in your navigation bar.
2. Tap to Add to Home Screen.

X