Koch Network Set to Open Its War Chest to Defeat Trump in 2024 After Sitting Out Last Two GOP Primaries

Bo Rader/The Wichita Eagle via AP

After sitting out the last two Republican presidential primaries, the influential network of political donors created by Charles Koch and his late brother David announced plans to crack open its considerable war chest in an effort to keep former President Donald Trump from winning the nomination.

In a memo released Sunday (flagged by the Washington Post), Emily Seidel — CEO of the Koch network’s flagship group, Americans for Prosperity — declared that her organization is ready to mobilize against the former president.

“The loudest voice in each political party sets the tone for the entire election,” Seidel wrote. “In a presidential year, that’s the presidential candidate.And to write a new chapter for our country, 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 added, “AFP Action is prepared to support a candidate in the Republican presidential primary who
can lead our country forward, and who can win.”

The Post reports that the plan is for the group to choose a single candidate to back by the end of this summer, in an apparent effort to avoid the prospect of Trump conquering a divided field.

“The Republican Party is nominating bad candidates who are advocating for things that go against core American principles,” Seidel wrote. “And the American people are rejecting them.”

She added, “The American people have shown that they’re ready to move on, and so AFP will help them do that.”