The deep-pocketed donor network associated with billionaire Charles Koch and his late brother David has said it will not be backing Donald Trump‘s next bid for office.
The declaration, made by brass at Americans for Prosperity Action in a memo to staffers Sunday, did not specify which candidate would receive the prospective funding, but vowed it would not be the embattled ex-head of state.
While not mentioning Trump by name, the CEO of the Kochs’ main political arm offered a not-so-subtle jab at the former president, who during his tenure often sparred with Koch officials over his administration’s trade and immigration policies.
The move, first reported by The Washington Post, comes as the donor group created by the billionaire industrialist brothers elected to sit out the two most recent GOP elections, where Trump, 76, twice surfaced as a frontrunner.
It also creates confusion as to who amongst a still developing field of potential Republican candidates – including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, ex South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, and Trump’s old running mate Mike Pence – is a clear-cut favorite.
The donor network created by billionaire Charles Koch has said it will not be backing Donald Trump’s next bid for office, after abstaining from the last two GOP presidential primaries
While not mentioning Trump by name, the CEO of the Kochs’ group seemingly criticized the former head of state in a memo Sunday that announced its new donating intensions
Emily Seidel – head executive of Koch’s Americans for Prosperity – wrote that the group seeks to ‘turn the page on the past’ and ‘write a new chapter for our country’ with its newly announced political backing.
‘The loudest voice in each political party sets the tone for the entire election,’ Seidel wrote, before adding, ‘In a presidential year, that’s the presidential candidate.
‘And to write a new chapter for our country,’ she continued, we need to turn the page on the past. So. the best thing for the country would be to have a president in 2025 who represents a new chapter.’
Seidel would go on to cite ‘the broken politics’ and ‘toxic situation’ she said were major influencers in the grassroots group’s choice to back a nameless, non-Trump candidate’s prospective bid for president.
The Koch network’s flagship group Americans for Prosperity boasts offices in 36 states, as well as millions of grassroots activists – all aligned with the firm’s conservative beliefs
‘The Republican Party is nominating bad candidates who are advocating for things that go against core American principles,’ Seidel wrote, adding, ‘And the American people are rejecting them.’
As Democrats continue to push ‘more and more extreme policies,’ she went on, ‘AFP Action is prepared to support a candidate in the Republican presidential primary who can lead our country forward. And who can win.’
The memo added: ‘The American people have shown that they’re ready to move on, and so AFP will help them do that.’
Sent to staffers and other political activists Sunday, the correspondence did not offer an exact budget for 2024, but if anything like the hefty donations doled out by the firm in past elections, they could amount in the hundreds of millions of dollars,
The move creates confusion as to who amongst a still developing field of potential Republican candidates – which includes Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis
The Koch network’s flagship group, Americans for Prosperity currently boasts offices in 36 states, as well as millions of grassroots activists across the country – all aligned with the firm’s conservative beliefs.
The firm was started by Koch, 87, and his late younger brother, who died in 2019 at age 79, in 2004, and has since surfaced as the main branch of one of the most powerful donor network’s in the world, thanks to a virtually unlimited reservoir of funds.
With that sprawling network, the Koch brothers – who were collectively worth an estimated $102.4 billion as of 2017 – raised more than $400million for Republican candidates during the 2012 presidential election.
Other potential suitors include former Vice President Pence former Secretary of State Pompeo, who both boast ties to Koch and his elaborate donor’s netowrk
Charles and his late brother David Koch, who died in 2012, boast a massive network of libertarian and conservative donors that has funneled millions into their preferred candidates
The group’s financial reach is said to rival even the Republican National Committee.
That said, when it comes to to 2024, several Republicans weighing bids could find themselves backed by Koch, with some in past already supported by Koch-backed super PACS, including DeSantis prior to his own GOP primary in 2018.
Other potential suitors include former Vice President Pence, as well as Marc Short, Pence’s former chief of staff and longtime aide, who once oversaw political operations at the Koch network.
Another prospective candidate us former Secretary of State Pompeo, who found himself backed by Koch-led political committees when he served as a congressman in Wichita – where Koch Industries is headquartered.
Former South Carolina Gov. Haley, meanwhile, also has ties to Koch’s elaborate donor network, and has attended the family’s donor conclaves in the past.
She, like DeSantis, is expected to announce her bid for the GOP nomination later this month.
