Unhappy with Trump and populists, Kochs for first time will intervene in GOP primaries
by David M. Drucker
March 01, 2019
The Koch political network for the first time plans to intervene in GOP primaries as part of a deliberate 2020 strategy to reverse years of essentially rubber-stamping the Republican Party in general elections.
Disappointed with Republicans in Congress and occasionally at odds with President Trump, the coalition of political groups overseen by Charles Koch has been re-evaluating its engagement in federal campaigns. Playing in GOP primaries to elect more like-minded Republicans to the House and Senate is key tactical adjustment the network has agreed to, with a top Koch official confirming that incumbents could be targeted for defeat.
“We think that if we’re going to be more selective, you know, raise the bar before getting involved, that it makes sense, therefore, to do more primaries,” Tim Phillips, who runs Americans for Prosperity, the Koch grassroots arm, told the Washington Examiner on Thursday while making the rounds at the Conservative Political Action Conference. The Washington Examiner is a CPAC media sponsor.
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“If your model is, be more selective — try to find people who are genuinely policy champions,” Phillips added, “then there are going to be times that the primary is the crucial aspect of being able to do that.”
[Also read: Trump merits a GOP challenge, not a free ride, in 2020]
Unhappy with Republicans and Trump on issues ranging from trade, to immigration, to deficits and debt, the Koch groups are scaling back their support for the GOP out of concern that they had become an organ of the party. Phillips said the network still plans to make a substantial investment in federal and state campaigns over the next two years. He emphasized that Koch has worked closely with the president and Republicans in Congress on criminal justice reform and the tax overhaul to achieve key policy victories.
But notably, one year after pledging to spend approximately $400 million on political and policy efforts, a significant portion of which targeted Democrats, the Koch network during its most recent annual donor conference declined to offer guarantees of support for Republicans in 2020.
The Koch network, founded by two billionaire industrialist brothers from Kansas, has for nearly 15 years plowed hundreds of millions of dollars into electing Republicans. The bulk of those efforts have focused on House and Senate races, plus gubernatorial and state legislative contests.
The money, raised from individual donors who are members of the network, is sprinkled among a coalition of Koch groups. Some are super PACs, others policy advocacy organizations. Still other organizations, like AFP, are grassroots oriented, and concentrate on voter identification, contact and turnout.
With promises in recent elections cycles to spend eye-popping numbers on behalf of Republicans, the Koch brothers and their network became something of a bogeyman among Democrats and anti-establishment conservatives. By its own admission, however, the Koch network hasn’t quite achieved the influence its detractors presume.
Per the network’s longstanding practice, it doesn’t plan to get involved in the presidential race. Only once, in 2012, has Koch deviated from its hands-off approach to White House contests.
“We think our resources are best spent, our model is best applied, at that state level and congressional level,” Phillips said.
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/campaigns/unhappy-with-trump-and-populists-kochs-for-first-time-will-intervene-in-gop-primaries