The powerful Koch political network launched an additional super PAC on Monday as it seeks to grow its influence ahead of the 2018 midterm elections.
Americans for Prosperity Action will be able to fundraise and spend unlimited amounts of money on political activities, such as buying television advertising or mailers, before November. While it will operate under less strict Federal Election Commission disclosure requirements, it won’t be able to directly donate or coordinate with specific campaigns.
The new super PAC is expected to support candidates or weigh in on issues in the lead-up to the midterm elections related to the objectives of its sister organization, Americans for Prosperity. That 501(c)(4) nonprofit group advocates for deregulation and lower taxes, among other priorities, but is hamstrung by rules that mean it must funnel funds into “social welfare” activities not explicitly associated with elections.
AFP Action spokesman Bill Riggs, however, declined to tell Politico the amount the PAC will dole out in the next two months or any details about its advocacy plans.
“Our mission is to help improve lives by breaking the barriers holding people back, and that requires building the policy coalitions in Washington to get it done,” Riggs said. “Americans for Prosperity has been a difference-maker supporting policy champions in tight races, and AFP Action is a new tool that will allow us to expand those efforts and make an even larger impact.”
The Koch network, overseen by industrialist billionaire Charles Koch, pledged in January to inject almost $400 million on the November elections.
But President Trump and the Koch brothers exchanged barbs in August after Charles Koch criticized the administration’s trade policies for being “unfair” and its tariffs rhetoric as “ridiculous.”
Despite threatening to dial back its efforts to defend Republican majorities in the House and Senate due to Trump’s trade talk and massive spending bills passed by Congress, AFP announced in August a $5 million investment to back GOP Senate candidates in Missouri, Tennessee, and Wisconsin.
