The Koch family and its extensive donor network, while committing $5.7 million in support of Nikki Haley's GOP primary campaign, is taking a slower approach to its reentry into presidential politics and so far has contributed a fraction of the cash already involved in the 2024 presidential primaries.
In addition to the money for Haley, the Koch networks have spent $18 million in ads and mail against former President Donald Trump's campaign, but the primary has cost $200 million in advertising alone, even before the first ballot is cast, reports The Wall Street Journal, quoting AdImpact, a political ad tracking company.
The money is also far less than the $1 billion that Koch donors had planned to spend in 2016's presidential race before Trump's power started to grow, and many critics are saying the current push is the networks' way to try to reassert power and to appease donors.
The network is also not seen as the dominant force in the Republican Party, as there are now divisions concerning its opposition to Trump, and many donors and activists are leaving the network, saying they are not comfortable with some causes, such as reforms in criminal justice.
Emily Seidel, the chief executive of Americans for Prosperity, the Koch-backed group endorsing Haley, though, said that Trump hasn't affected her group's mission.
"AFP is a policy-first organization, and we don't go away in between election cycles," she commented.
Seidel would not say how much money the Koch network is planning to spend to back Haley's campaign but did comment that the group added 120 volunteers after announcing it was endorsing the former South Carolina governor. She further said Americans for Prosperity has reached out to 350,000 voters in the nation's early primary states.
According to Bill Riggs, an Americans for Prosperity spokesman, the group includes more volunteers this year than in any of the last three election cycles,
Tax documents, though, are showing a sharp drop in volunteers. In 2014, the group had 20,000 volunteers, but last year had just 1,814.
Riggs said that's because the group has been hiring its volunteers as contract employees.
A nonprofit, the Stand Together Chamber of Commerce, has captured most of the Koch network's overall budget, raising $275 million last year.
That money funds other nonprofits including Americans for Prosperity and its political action committee, which brought in almost $78 million for this election cycle, including $25 million from Koch Industries, by the end of June for the 2024 election.
Charles Koch and his late brother David started getting involved in politics while President George W. Bush was in office because they opposed his increased social spending, and their money helped bankroll the Tea Party.
They also fought the Affordable Care Act, a battle they lost but continued to fight by spending more than $200 million trying to get it repealed.
Meanwhile, the Koch network did not always back Haley, with Americans for Prosperity and other volunteers campaigning against her proposed gas tax plan and foreign policy views.
One of the then-volunteers, Lee Canaday, told The Wall Street Journal he quit working for the organization because he was not sure about its political principles, including endorsing Haley.
Kerry Baldwin, who served as coalitions director for the New Mexico chapter, said she was fired after opposing Haley's endorsement, and says that the backing is "antithetical to everything the Kochs and AFP have stood for,” she said.
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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