A super PAC with ties to billionaire Charles Koch has raised $78 million this year — money the group is reportedly using to keep former President Donald Trump from becoming the GOP nominee.
Americans for Prosperity Action got the bulk of its funding from two $25 million donations, according to its latest filing with the Federal Election Commission, Bloomberg reported.
One was from Koch Industries Inc., the second was from Stand Together Chamber of Commerce, a political nonprofit that doesn’t disclose its donors, the news outlet reported.
The conservative group opposes Trump, and has run ads saying his nomination will lead to President Joe Biden’s reelection in 2024, the news outlet reported. The group also maintains that under Trump, Republicans lost control of the three elected branches of government.
The super PAC — defined as an independent political action committee that can raise unlimited sums from corporations, unions, and individuals, but can't contribute to or coordinate directly with parties or candidates — has spent a little less than $600,000 so far on digital and satellite ads attacking Trump, according to AdImpact, Bloomberg reported.
The group hasn’t yet backed any of Trump’s GOP primary challengers.
The super PAC also got $5 million from billionaire Walmart heirs Rob Walton and Jim Walton, while big GOP donor Ron Cameron, who supported Trump in 2020, gave $1 million, Bloomberg reported.
Americans for Prosperity Action spent $4 million and ended June with $75 million cash on hand — more than twice what the Trump campaign raised in the second quarter, Bloomberg reported, becoming a barrier for Trump in his second White House bid.
Trump remains the GOP front-runner, with 54% support in the RealClearPolitics averaging of polls.
Trump is nearly 36 points ahead of the second-place contender, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis — the only other contender reaching double digits in polling.
Americans for Prosperity Action’s $78 million is part of a growing pile of Republican-allied money aiming to defeat Trump, Bloomberg noted.
PACs allied with the anti-tax group Club for Growth also have been raising millions to search for an alternative GOP candidate, Bloomberg reported.
Charles Koch and his brother David, who died in 2019, have been among the largest Republican donors in recent decades but never warmed to Trump, Bloomberg noted.
The brothers’ political network refused to financially back him in 2016, sparking Trump’s criticism of the pair as “a total joke” and “highly overrated.”
According to an analysis by Open Secrets, Americans For Prosperity Action spent more than $69 million in the 2022 midterms, with the vast majority supporting GOP candidates.
Some of the biggest recipients of the group’s support were Georgia Senate candidate Herschel Walker and Mehmet Oz, who was running for the Senate in Pennsylvania. Both were candidates Trump endorsed, and both lost.
Fran Beyer ✉
Fran Beyer is a writer with Newsmax and covers national politics.
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