Key groups in the Koch brothers’ political network on Monday began reserving $30 million in advertising buys in key Senate races in August and September, a network official tells POLITICO.
The television and digital ad buys, from Freedom Partners Action Fund and other groups, are expected to target Democratic Senate candidates or boost Republican ones in Florida, Nevada, Ohio and Pennsylvania, the official said.The ad reservations come on the same day that National Review reported that the brothers’ network, which had intended to spend $889 million in the run-up to the 2016 elections, was scaling back its political involvement in the face of disappointing results and concerns about damage to the brothers’ multinational industrial conglomerate Koch Industries. The story caused a major buzz in Republican finance circles, with some fundraisers predicting that donors would reduce their giving to the Koch network in favor of other groups promising a more politically aggressive approach to spending
But the network official said that the buys were unrelated to the story, downplayed its central thesis and signaled support for the GOP Senate majority.