Koch network campaign for support Trump Supreme Court nominee

The political advocacy group backed by billionaire Charles Koch is officially launching their campaign in support of President Donald Trump’s latest nominee to the Supreme Court.

The Koch linked group, Americans for Prosperity (AFP), moved ahead with what will likely be an expansive and expensive campaign for the organization to help push Trump’s nominee through the Senate. Trump on Saturday selected Judge Amy Coney Barrett to replace the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg on the Supreme Court.

Casey Mattox, the Vice President for Legal and Judicial Strategy at Americans for Prosperity, told CNBC that they plan to call on lawmakers to support Barrett’s nomination, with the help of their large scale grassroots operation. They will initiate phone banking, push out direct mail and craft various digital ads that will try to convince senators to vote yes for Trump’s nominee. 

“A full scale campaign is now underway to mobilize our grassroots activists across the country to drive the confirmation of Judge Amy Coney Barrett to the high court. We’ll be lighting up senators’ switchboards,” Mattox said.

AFP is going to argue that lawmakers should vote in support of Barrett because the group believes that as Supreme Court justice “she will embrace her role to safeguard the constitutional rights of the people while recognizing that we elect Congress, not the courts, to legislate,” Mattox says. 

Americans for Prosperity says it will be a full scale national campaign but their top targets will be senators in Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Iowa, Maine, North Carolina, South Carolina, Utah, and West Virginia. Some of their targeted lawmakers are Democrats including Sens. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Doug Jones, D-Ala.

This will be the latest Supreme Court fight AFP will be involved with since Trump has become president. They ran campaigns backing Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh. During the Kavanaugh hearings, they committed seven figures to the cause. 

Doug Jones said on Friday he would not vote for any Supreme Court nominee until after Election Day in November. He’s currently up for re-election.

The Alabama lawmaker is one of many Democrats, including Joe Biden, who have come out publicly to push back on Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., for moving ahead with a nominee so close to the election. 

With that, various outside groups have launched expensive efforts to either support or push back on Trump’s maneuvers.

AFP will be the latest group to join the 2020 battle over the Supreme Court.