Hundreds of wealthy donors and several Republican officials involved with the powerful Koch network gathered at the Renaissance Indian Wells Resort just outside of Palm Springs, California, on Saturday for an annual fundraising conference.
“We’ve made more progress in the last five years than I have in the previous 50,” Charles Koch said at a lavish reception to kick off the event Saturday night.
Seminar Network spokesman James Davis reported 550 donors were in attendance this year — representing the largest conference since the group’s first gathering in 2003, which was comprised of about a dozen people. Network donors must give at least $100,000 per year to earn member status.
During the conference, various groups affiliated with the Koch network, such as Americans for Prosperity, the Libre Initiative, and Stand Together plan to tout accomplishments from the past year and announce new goals like criminal justice reform and education projects, tying them together with this year’s seminar theme: “Breaking Barriers.”
Underpinning the retreat is a degree of unease in anticipation of November’s midterms. Americans for Prosperity president Tim Phillips admitted that conservative groups like his face a “very challenging environment” in retaining Republican majorities in Congress and state legislatures this year.
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01.23.2025