The conservative donor network founded by billionaire GOP brothers Charles. And David Koch says it is entering the 2024 Republican presidential. Primary to “turn the page” and “write a new chapter for our country.”
In a memo released Sunday, Americans for Prosperity said it will support.
More candidates in light of the GOP’s disappointing. performance in the 2022 midterm elections.
“The Republican Party is nominating bad candidates. Who are advocating for something that goes against the core principles of America. And the American people are rejecting them,” wrote the group’s CEO Emily Seidel.
Seidel said Americans for Prosperity want to support a candidate in the 2024 GOP. Presidential primary “who can move our country forward and who can win.”
“So the best thing for the country would be to have a president in 2025 who represents a new chapter,” Seidel wrote. “The American people have shown that they are ready to move forward, and so the AFP will help them do that.”
AFP’s memo does not mention former President Donald Trump. But comes months after disappointing performances by Trump. -Backed candidates in the 2022 midterm. Elections costing the GOP seats in key swing-state races.
AFP’s decision to get involved in the GOP primary marks a significant.
Shift in strategy after sitting out. The White House’s two most recent nomination battles.
Trump and AFP have butted heads in recent years. After Charles Koch refused to allow the network to spend. Money on Trump to influence the 2016 presidential election.
After Trump entered office, AFP’s top leaders in 2018 expressed their frustration. With the direction of the Republican Party during Trump’s presidency as. They sought to rebrand the organization by promising to be less partisan. And worked with elected officials across the political spectrum to advance them. Policy priorities.
In a series of tweets in 2018, Trump fired back at the Koch-backed group. Saying it would distance itself from the then-president. And other top Republicans who did not support their agenda. “The globalist Koch Brothers. Who have become a complete joke in real Republican circles. Are against strong borders and strong trade. I have never sought their support because I don’t need their money or bad ideas,” Trump tweeted.
Tensions between Trump and the AFP persisted throughout the 2022 midterm election cycle.
With Trump and AFP’s respective candidates. Duking it out in the Nebraska governor’s race. And congressional races in Michigan and South Carolina.
The influential Club for Growth, associated with Trump, and other major donors have. Also distanced themselves from the former president. The group clashed with Trump in the 2022 midterms. Supporting various candidates in the Ohio. and Pennsylvania Senate primaries. In an interview with Axios last month, David McIntosh, president of the Club for Growth. Said that “it’s time for a new standard bearer who believes in. And fights for free-market principles” and that the group is “focused. On different things” than Trump.
