Billionaire Republican megadonor Charles Koch, pictured in 2012, gave $3 million to the Freedom Partners Action Fund. | AP Photo Charles Koch gives $3 million to boost GOP — but not Trump Billionaire gives to super PAC seeking to protect the Republican Senate majority.

Charles Koch, facing questions about his commitment to political spending, late last month donated $3 million to a super PAC spending heavily to protect the Republican Senate majority, according to a Federal Election Commission report set to be filed in the coming days.

The super PAC, Freedom Partners Action Fund, last month raised a total of $8.1 million, almost all of which came from Koch and just three other donors. Wisconsin roofing billionaire Diane Hendricks and Arkansas poultry magnate Ronnie Cameron each donated $2 million, while Virginia coal investor Richard Gilliam gave $1 million, according to the FEC report, a copy of which was provided by the PAC to POLITICO.


Koch’s donation marks his first significant check of the 2016 election cycle. It’s especially notable because he has increasingly expressed frustrations with the political process, and with presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, in particular.

The billionaire real estate showman’s stances on trade and other fiscal issues run counter to the brand of free-market conservatism espoused by Koch and his younger brother, David Koch. And the network of advocacy groups spearheaded by the billionaire brothers, which had initially planned to spend $889 million in the run-up to the 2016 election, has indicated it does not intend to spend money boosting Trump.

That coolness to Trump, which fueled concerns on the right that the network would scale back its political spending across the board, appeared unchanged even after one of the brothers' top aides, Mark Holden, met this week at the campaign’s Manhattan headquarters with Trump, his campaign manager and other officials. Sources familiar with the meeting said it was short and that no commitments were made.

Officials from the Trump campaign and Freedom Partners declined to comment on the meeting.

But the news of Charles Koch's donation to the PAC seems to indicate that the brothers and their allies are committed to spending big to keep the Senate in Republican hands, even if they remain on the sidelines of the presidential campaign.

James Davis, a spokesman for Freedom Partners Action Fund, said “we’re grateful for the commitment of our donors to helping us support freedom-oriented candidates and shape the conversation around our core issues.”

The network’s groups have reserved $30 million in advertising buys in key Senate races in August and September and have already reported spending nearly $12 million so far, according to a POLITICO analysis of FEC data.

That includes nearly $10 million spent by Freedom Partners Action Fund, which is the only super PAC in the Koch network, on ads boosting Republican Senate candidates or opposing Democratic ones in Nevada, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin. And Americans for Prosperity, the Koch network’s grass-roots activism arm, reported spending another $1.7 million on ads, canvassing and phone banking opposing former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland’s challenge to the state’s Republican incumbent senator, Rob Portman.

That puts the Koch network’s reported Senate spending at slightly less than that of the vaunted U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which has disclosed spending $13.6 million boosting Republicans, and Democrats' lead big-money Senate arm, Senate Majority PAC, which has reported spending $12.6 million.

