Tim Phillips, president of the national political group Americans for Prosperity, will be in Colorado knocking on doors and talking to voters Friday in the Denver suburbs of Colorado’s 6th District.
The race for Congress taking place there is the only one in the country where the Koch brothers-backed AFP, a tax-exempt social welfare nonprofit, is expressly calling for a candidate’s defeat. In this case, that candidate is Morgan Carroll, a Democratic state senator who is challenging incumbent Republican Congressman Mike Coffman. Green Party candidate Robert Lee Worthey is also running.
Related: Colorado’s 6th District race: Mike Coffman vs. Morgan Carroll, a primer
“This is only the second time in 10 years in Colorado that we have decided to advocate for someone’s defeat,” AFP state director Michael Fields told The Colorado Independent. The first was Democrat Mark Udall in the 2014 U.S. Senate race, which Udall lost.
AFP’s work in the race shows how nationally significant the election is. The 6th is a swing district in a swing state. With Donald Trump topping the ticket for the GOP this year, Democrats are hoping he’ll be a drag on down-ballot Republicans like Coffman, who has already worked to distance himself from Trump in his race.
Americans for Prosperity has taken a keen interest in Colorado in recent years, and has gotten more involved at the state level, especially at the state legislature.
Related: In-depth: What Americans for Prosperity is doing in Colorado
Just last month, for the first time ever, the group issued a report card for all 100 lawmakers in Colorado, and held a reception where they issued the grades in downtown Denver.
“I think they’ve taken more of an interest in Colorado,” said Colorado GOP Sen. Tim Neville, who earned the highest grade in the Senate from AFP, while at the reception.
“Colorado is a state where basically we have a lot of things in play. There are a lot of battles,” he said. “I would think that any organization that is interested in where we’re going as a country would probably be more involved in Colorado, whichever side of the debate they may be on.”
Photo credit Alexa LaSpisa via Creative Commons on Flickr.
This confirms that Mike Coffman is a loyal Republican Koch-head. He can weasel all he wants about Trump, but it’s hard to avoid the Koch agenda of eliminating all social services, minimum wage, unions, public schools… anything that would help working people, if AFP is campaigning on his behalf.
Please knock on my door! Then you can really “make my day”!