Americans for Prosperity#Funding

Americans for Prosperity was founded in 2004 when internal rivalries caused a split in the conservative political advocacy group Citizens for a Sound Economy (CSE), creating Americans for Prosperity and FreedomWorks.{{cite book|author1=Theda Skocpol|author2=Vanessa Williamson|title=The Tea Party and the Remaking of Republican Conservatism|url=https://archive.org/details/teapartyremaking0000skoc|url-access=registration|year=2012|publisher=Oxford University Press|location= US|isbn=978-0199832637|pages=[https://archive.org/details/teapartyremaking0000skoc/page/104 104]–}} AFP's founding was funded by businessmen and philanthropist brothers David H. Koch and Charles Koch, of Koch Industries.{{cite magazine |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2010/08/30/covert-operations |author-link=Jane Mayer |first=Jane |last=Mayer |title=Covert Operations: The billionaire brothers who are waging a war against Obama |magazine=The New Yorker |date=August 30, 2010 |access-date=March 20, 2015}}{{cite journal|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/20/us/politics/20koch.html |title=Secretive Republican Donors Are Planning Ahead |newspaper=The New York Times |date=October 19, 2010 |first=Kate |last=Zernike |author-link=Kate Zernike|access-date=December 21, 2014}}{{cite encyclopedia |last1=Roberts |first1=Robert North |last2=Hammond|first2=Scott John| last3=Sulfaro| first3=Valerie A.|encyclopedia=Presidential Campaigns, Slogans, Issues, and Platforms: The Complete Encyclopedia |title=Americans for Prosperity |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ejc-dCYi9WMC&pg=PR1 |access-date=July 8, 2015 |year=2012 |publisher=Greenwood Press|isbn=978-0313380938 |quote=Americans for Prosperity Foundation (AFP) is an antitaxation advocacy group founded in 2004 and financed by David and Charles Koch, the billionaire brothers who own Koch Industries of Wichita, Kansas.}} The Americans for Prosperity Foundation is the Koch brothers' primary political advocacy group.{{cite news |url=http://www.politico.com/story/2014/05/koch-brothers-americans-for-prosperity-2014-elections-106520.html |author-link=Kenneth P. Vogel |first=Kenneth P. |last=Vogel |title=Koch brothers' Americans for Prosperity plans $125 million spending spree |date=May 9, 2014 |access-date=May 6, 2015 |publisher=Politico |quote=The Koch brothers' main political arm intends to spend more than $125 million this year on an aggressive ground, air and data operation benefiting conservatives, according to a memo distributed to major donors and sources familiar with the group. The projected budget for Americans for Prosperity would be unprecedented for a private political group in a midterm, and would likely rival even the spending of the Republican and Democratic parties' congressional campaign arms.}}{{cite news |url=https://nymag.com/news/features/67285/ |title=The Billionaire's Party: David Koch is New York's second-richest man, a celebrated patron of the arts, and the tea party's wallet |work=New York magazine |date=July 25, 2010 |first=Andrew |last=Goldman |access-date=March 25, 2015 |quote=AFPF is now Koch's primary political-advocacy group.}}{{cite news |magazine=Mother Jones |first=Andy |last=Kroll |access-date=May 9, 2015 |url=https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/11/koch-steyer-senate-elections-rove-big-money |title=2014: The Year of Koch |date=November 6, 2014 |quote=The Koch brothers' flagship organization, Americans for Prosperity, had an equally stellar Election Day.}} According to a spokesperson from Koch Industries, the Koch companies do not direct the activities of AFP.

AFP's original stated mission was "educating citizens about economic policy and mobilizing citizens as advocates in the public policy process".{{cite web|title=About Americans for Prosperity|url=http://www.americansforprosperity.org/about|access-date=March 9, 2012}} Its current stated mission is "to mobilize citizens to advocate for policies that cut red tape and increase opportunity, put the brakes on government overspending, and get the economy working for hard workers – not special interests". It is focused on "fiscal responsibility," and in particular on cutting taxes, reducing regulation of business, and limiting the power of the courts.Meyer, D. S., and A. Pullum. [https://books.google.com/books?id=2tPVCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA11 "The Tea Party and the Dilemmas of Conservative Populism,"] in Understanding the Tea Party Movement, edited by D. S. Meyer and N. Van Dyke. (London: Ashgate Publishing, Ltd., 2014), p. 89. According to FactCheck.org, "AFP seeks to support free markets and entrepreneurship by advocating lower taxes and limited government spending and regulation."{{cite web |publisher=FactCheck.org |title=Americans for Prosperity |date=October 10, 2011 |access-date=April 22, 2015 |url=http://www.factcheck.org/2011/10/americans-for-prosperity-2/}} Its leaders view the organization as a counterbalance to the progressive movement's unions and activist organizations. According to NBC News, The New York Times and others, some of AFP's policy positions align with the business interests of the Koch brothers and Koch Industries, including its support for rescinding energy regulations and environmental restrictions; expanding domestic energy production; lowering taxes; and reducing government spending, especially Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid.{{cite news |work=NBC News |first=Leigh Ann |last=Caldwell |title=Koch-backed Group Vows To Hold GOP's Feet To The Fire |date=January 15, 2015 |access-date=August 24, 2015 |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/koch-backed-group-vows-hold-gops-feet-fire-n287001 |quote=Americans for Prosperity, which spent more than $100 million in the 2014 election in efforts to help elect Republicans, is vowing to hold Republicans accountable now that they have control of both bodies of Congress. The group, financed largely by conservative entrepreneurs Charles and David Koch, promised Thursday at the National Press Club to expand its reach and influence in 2015 by pushing its core legislative policies of repealing the Affordable Care Act, rolling back energy regulations, expanding domestic energy production, reducing taxes and reining in government spending, especially Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid – all efforts that would financially benefit the Koch brothers' sprawling business entities.}}{{cite news |work=Salon |agency=Republic Report |author-link=Lee Fang |first=Lee |last=Fang |date=January 25, 2015 |title=Americans for Prosperity's legislative agenda is just Koch Industries' corporate wish list |access-date=August 24, 2015 |url=http://www.salon.com/2015/01/25/americans_for_prosperitys_legislative_agenda_is_just_the_koch_industries_corporate_wishlist_partner/ |quote=Americans for Prosperity, the grassroots organizing group founded by billionaire industrialists Charles and David Koch, spent $125 million in the midterm elections last year. Now, they're calling in their chips. At the National Press Club yesterday, AFP president Tim Phillips and several officers with the group laid out their agenda. The group is calling for legalizing crude oil exports, a repeal of the estate tax, approval of the Keystone XL pipeline, blocking any hike in the gas tax, a tax holiday on corporate profits earned overseas, blocking the EPA's new rules on carbon emissions from coal-burning power plants, and a repeal of the Affordable Care Act, along with a specific focus on the medical device tax. The announcement was touted by NPR as a "conservative agenda for Congress." But it's also a near mirror image of Koch Industries' lobbying agenda. Koch Industries – the petrochemical, manufacturing and commodity speculating conglomerate owned by David and Charles – is not only a financier of political campaigns, but leads one of the most active lobbying teams in Washington, a big part of why the company has been such a financial success.}}{{cite book |first1=Nella |last1=Van Dyke |first2=David S |last2=Meyer |title=Understanding the Tea Party Movement |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c8KKBAAAQBAJ&pg=PR4 |date=2014 |access-date=August 24, 2015 |publisher=Ashgate Publishing |isbn=978-1409465225 |page=177 |quote=When faced with the charge that the Tea Party movement really represents only the interests of its generous benefactors, the Koch brothers, Tea Partiers like to cite George Soros, the billionaire currency speculator who has bankrolled political efforts for civil liberties generally. The easy equivalence is deceptive; it's hard to see how decriminalizing drugs, for example, serves Soros's business interests in the way relaxing environmental regulations supports the Kochs' businesses; the scope and scale of the Tea Party's dependence on large capital may indeed be unique.}}

From 2004 to 2007, AFP was led by Nancy Pfotenhauer.{{cite news | url=http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/senate/who-is-americans-for-prosperit.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100831093514/http://voices.washingtonpost.com/thefix/senate/who-is-americans-for-prosperit.html | url-status=dead | archive-date=August 31, 2010 | title=Who is Americans for Prosperity? |newspaper=The Washington Post | first=Felicia | last=Sonmez | date=August 26, 2010 |access-date=March 23, 2015 |quote=AFP's previous president, Nancy Pfotenhauer, left to become an adviser to Sen. John McCain's (R-Ariz.) presidential bid. (Pfotenhauer had previously worked as a lobbyist for Koch Industries.)}}{{cite journal |title='To quarterback behind the scenes, third-party efforts': the tobacco industry and the Tea Party |first1=Amanda |last1=Fallin |first2=Rachel |last2=Grana |first3=Stanton A. |last3=Glantz |url= |journal=Tobacco Control |date=February 8, 2013 |volume=23 |issue=4 |pages=322–331 |doi=10.1136/tobaccocontrol-2012-050815 |pmid=23396417 |pmc=3740007 }} In 2005, the Kochs hired political strategist Tim Phillips to work at AFP.{{cite news |title=How Billionaire Oligarchs Are Becoming Their Own Political Parties |first=Jim |last=Rutenberg |date=October 17, 2014 |access-date=March 23, 2015 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/19/magazine/how-billionaire-oligarchs-are-becoming-their-own-political-parties.html |work=The New York Times Magazine |quote=The Kochs hired Phillips in 2005 to make Americans for Prosperity into a force that could defeat liberalism and elect true free-market conservatives}}

AFP had a staff of 116 employees in September 2012, and the next year it had chapters in 34 states and reported a membership of 2.3 million.{{cite news |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/11/14/americans-for-prosperity-2012_n_4275980.html |title=Americans For Prosperity Spent Record Cash In 2012 |first=Michael |last=Beckel |date=November 14, 2013 |access-date=March 24, 2015 |work=The Huffington Post |agency=Center for Public Integrity}} In June 2014, it had 240 employees in 32 states.{{cite news |newspaper=The Washington Post |title=An expanding Koch network aims to spend $300 million to shape Senate fight and 2016 |first=Matea |last=Gold |date=June 18, 2014 |access-date=April 22, 2015 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/an-expanding-koch-network-aims-to-spend-300-million-to-shape-senate-fight-and-2016/2014/06/18/d42877ec-f703-11e3-a3a5-42be35962a52_story.html}} AFP has been active in national, state,{{cite news |newspaper=The Washington Post |title=Americans for Prosperity to add offices in 2 new states |first=Reid |last=Wilson |date=July 18, 2014 |access-date=May 11, 2015 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/govbeat/wp/2014/07/18/americans-for-prosperity-to-add-offices-in-2-new-states/}}{{cite news |magazine=National Journal |title=Americans for Prosperity Now Going After Democratic Governors |first=Scott |last=Bland |date=March 20, 2014 |access-date=May 11, 2015 |url=http://www.nationaljournal.com/hotline-on-call/americans-for-prosperity-now-going-after-democratic-governors-20140320 }} and local elections. AFP registered to lobby in 2014.{{cite news |newspaper=The Hill |title=Americans for Prosperity registers to lobby |first=Megan R. |last=Wilson |date=February 19, 2014 |url=https://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/business-a-lobbying/198767-americans-for-prosperity-registers-to-lobby/ |access-date=May 17, 2015}} According to FactCheck.org, by 2011, AFP had "emerged as one of the most influential conservative issue advocacy groups on the national and state political scene".{{cite news |magazine=Mother Jones |first=Andy |last=Kroll |title=Americans for Prosperity Chief: We Don't Know If $27 Million in Anti-Obama Ads Has Any Effect |date=September 3, 2012 |access-date=June 5, 2015 |url=https://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2012/09/americans-for-prosperity-chief-obama-ads-27-million |quote=AFP is one of the most powerful political players in national conservative politics.}} The Los Angeles Times said AFP performed roles typical of national and state political parties. ABC News said in August 2014 that AFP was "poised to be the most influential conservative group in the nation this year, and among the most influential and heaviest spending across the political spectrum this year and into the looming presidential race".{{cite news |title=No Strategy |work=The Note |agency=ABC News |url=https://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2014/08/the-note-no-strategy/ |first=Chris |last=Good |date=August 29, 2014 |access-date=June 1, 2015}}

As of mid-September 2018, AFP has become one of just 15 groups that account for three-quarters of the anonymous cash following the 2010 Supreme Court decision Citizens United v. FEC, which paved the way for dark money to flow into U.S. elections.{{cite web|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/elections/2018/09/12/three-quarters-secret-political-money-comes-15-groups/1272183002 |title=Exclusive: Three-quarters of the secret money in recent elections came from 15 groups |author=Fredreka Schouten |date=September 12, 2018 |website=USAToday.com |access-date=September 13, 2018}}[https://www.issueone.org/dark-money Dark Money Illuminated.] Issue One

In 2023 in Wyoming, Tyler Lindholm formed the 36th state chapter of Americans for Prosperity.{{Cite web |last=Taylor |first=Emilee |date=2023-01-11 |title=Americans for Prosperity to Open Wyoming Chapter in 2023 |url=https://americansforprosperity.org/americans-for-prosperity-to-open-wyoming-chapter-in-2023/ |access-date=2023-03-19 |website=Americans for Prosperity |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Orr |first=Jimmy |date=2023-01-11 |title=Former Legislator Tyler Lindholm To Launch Americans For Prosperity Chapter in Wyoming - Cowboy State Daily |url=https://cowboystatedaily.com/2023/01/10/former-legislator-tyler-lindholm-to-launch-americans-for-prosperity-chapter-in-wyoming/,%20https://cowboystatedaily.com/2023/01/10/former-legislator-tyler-lindholm-to-launch-americans-for-prosperity-chapter-in-wyoming/ |access-date=2023-03-19 |website=cowboystatedaily.com |language=en-US}}

Tim Phillips was the president of AFP and the AFP Foundation from 2006 to 2021, when he was forced to resign.

AFP has been called both the political and educational arm of the AFP Foundation. AFP and the AFP Foundation share offices and staff.{{cite news |agency=Center for Public Integrity |title=Nonprofit profile: Americans for Prosperity |first=Paul |last=Abowd |date=June 21, 2012 |access-date=April 28, 2015 |url=http://www.publicintegrity.org/2012/06/21/9170/nonprofit-profile-americans-prosperity}}

As of 2014, New Jersey businesswoman Frayda Levin chaired the board of directors of AFP.{{cite news |title=Kochs' Network Wrestles With Expectations for Presidential Primaries |last=Confessore |first=Nicholas |date=August 30, 2014 |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=April 26, 2015 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/08/31/us/politics/kochs-network-wrestles-with-expectations-for-presidential-primaries.html}} Other directors include Pfotenhauer, former U.S. government official and economist James C. Miller III, James E. Stephenson, and Mark Holden.{{cite web |title=Directors |publisher=Americans for Prosperity |url=http://americansforprosperity.org/directors/ |access-date=2016-08-11}} AFP files with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) as a 501(c)(4) nonprofit, tax-exempt, social welfare organization,{{cite news |newspaper=The Wall Street Journal |title=Mystery Money: Your Guide to Campaign Finance in 2014 |first=Rebecca |last=Ballhaus |date=September 25, 2014 |access-date=June 7, 2015 |url=https://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2014/09/25/mystery-money-your-guide-to-campaign-finance-in-2014/}} and contributions to it are not tax-deductible. AFP is legally required to operate as nonpartisan: it may not endorse or oppose political candidates, its primary purpose may not be political,{{cite news |title=Donor Names Remain Secret As Rules Shift |first1=Michael |last1=Luo |first2=Stephanie |last2=Strom |newspaper=The New York Times |date=September 21, 2010 |page=A1 |access-date=March 23, 2015 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/21/us/politics/21money.html |quote=They include 501(c)(4) "social welfare" organizations, like Crossroads, which has been the top spender on Senate races, and Americans for Prosperity, another pro-Republican group that has been the leader on the House side; 501(c)(5) labor unions, which have been supporting Democrats; and 501(c)(6) trade associations, like the United States Chamber of Commerce, which has been spending heavily in support of Republicans. Charities organized under Section 501(c)(3) are largely prohibited from political activity because they offer their donors tax deductibility....The elections commission could, theoretically, step in and rule that groups like Crossroads GPS should register as political committees, which would force them to disclose their donors. }} it must be primarily engaged in social welfare activities, and no more than half its expenditures may be political.

David H. Koch chaired the board of directors of the AFP Foundation.{{cite news |title=The Koch Brothers Left a Confidential Document at Their Donor Conference |first1=Andy |last1=Kroll |first2=Daniel |last2=Schulman |date=February 5, 2014 |access-date=March 23, 2015 |url=https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/02/koch-brothers-palm-springs-donor-list |magazine=Mother Jones}} Other directors include Pfotenhauer, Debra Humphreys, and Cy Nobles.{{cite web |title=Board of Directors |publisher=Americans for Prosperity Foundation |url=http://americansforprosperityfoundation.org/about-us/board-of-directors/ |access-date=2016-08-11 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150518113050/http://americansforprosperityfoundation.org/about-us/board-of-directors/ |archive-date=2015-05-18 |url-status=dead }} The AFP Foundation is an associate member of the State Policy Network, a national network of free-market oriented think tanks.{{cite news |url=http://www.politico.com/story/2013/11/koch-brothers-think-tank-report-99791.html |title=Report: Think tanks tied to Kochs |publisher=Politico |date=November 13, 2013 |first=Tal |last=Kopan |access-date=February 24, 2015}}{{cite web|url=http://www.spn.org/directory/organizations.asp |title=Directory SPN Members |publisher=State Policy Network |access-date=March 23, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150318011132/http://www.spn.org/directory/organizations.asp |archive-date=March 18, 2015 }} As a 501(c)(3) non-profit, tax-exempt charity, contributions to the AFP Foundation are tax deductible, and such charities are largely prohibited from political activity.

Americans for Prosperity Action is a super PAC that supports conservative candidates. It spent more than $47 million to support or oppose candidates in 2020 elections.{{cite web| url=https://www.opensecrets.org/outside-spending/detail?cmte=C00687103&cycle=2020| title=Americans for Prosperity Action Outside Spending| publisher=Open Secrets| accessdate=February 6, 2023}}

Tax-exempt, nonprofit charitable organizations such as AFP are generally not required to disclose their contributors, unlike political action committees.{{cite web |title=Dark money in the 2012 elections (so far) |first=Lee |last=Drutman |date=July 16, 2012 |access-date=June 7, 2015 |publisher=Sunlight Foundation |url=https://sunlightfoundation.com/blog/2012/07/16/dark-money/}}{{cite web |title=Midwestern Bank PAC Funds Kochs' Americans for Prosperity |first=Viveca |last=Novak |date=July 19, 2012 |agency=OpenSecrets |access-date=June 7, 2015 |url=http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2012/07/midwestern-bank-pac-funds-kochs-ame/}} Some campaign finance watchdogs and Democrats have criticized AFP for what they perceive to be its funding of political activities from undisclosed sources. For example, the Sunlight Foundation and others have accused non-disclosing political groups like AFP of filing for nonprofit status solely to invoke the right to hide their donors.{{cite news |magazine=Newsweek |title=As Dark Money Floods U.S. Elections, Regulators Turn a Blind Eye |first=Leah |last=McGrath Goodman |date=September 30, 2014 |access-date=June 7, 2014 |url=http://www.newsweek.com/2014/10/10/dark-money-floods-us-elections-regulators-turn-blind-eye-273951.html}}{{cite web |publisher=Sunlight Foundation |title=Dark Money Organizations Change Strategies to Keep Donors Secret |first=Alex |last=Engler |date=September 25, 2012 |access-date=June 2, 2015 |url=http://sunlightfoundation.com/blog/2012/09/25/dark-money-organizations-change-strategies-to-keep-donors-secret/}} President Obama, speaking at a Democratic National Committee fundraising dinner in August 2010, criticized AFP for its political spending and non-disclosure of donors.{{cite magazine |title=Obama's Bête Noire |url=http://www.nationalreview.com/article/386867/obamas-b-te-noire-eliana-johnson |magazine=National Review |first=Eliana |last=Johnson |date=September 2, 2014 |access-date=March 21, 2015 |quote=As the 2010 midterms approached, President Obama warned his supporters about groups with "harmless-sounding names like Americans for Prosperity." "They don't want you to know who the Americans for Prosperity are, because they're thinking about the next election," he said.}}{{cite news |publisher=Politico |title=Koch-backed group links itself to IRS scandal |first=Tarini |last=Parti |date=May 13, 2013 |url=http://www.politico.com/story/2013/05/koch-backed-group-links-itself-to-irs-scandal-91268.html |access-date=May 29, 2015 |quote=In 2010, Obama called out Americans for Prosperity and similar groups for their spending activities without financial disclosure. "Right now all around this country there are groups with harmless-sounding names like Americans for Prosperity, who are running millions of dollars of ads against Democratic candidates all across the country," Obama said at an Aug. 2010 fundraiser. "And they don't have to say who exactly the Americans for Prosperity are," he added. "You don't know if it's a foreign-controlled corporation. You don't know if it's a big oil company, or a big bank. You don't know if it's a insurance company that wants to see some of the provisions in health reform repealed because it's good for their bottom line, even if it's not good for the American people."}} The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee filed a complaint with the IRS charging that the AFP Foundation had funded political advertisements in violation of the law applicable to the foundation's tax-exempt classification. AFP responded that the charges were without merit.{{cite news |title=Group Is Accused on Tax Exemption |first=Eric |last=Lichtblau |date=August 27, 2010 |access-date=March 23, 2015 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/28/us/politics/28irs.html |newspaper=The New York Times}}{{cite news |date=August 27, 2010 |title=Democrats file IRS complaint against Americans for Prosperity |first=Fredreka |last=Schouten |newspaper=USA Today |url=http://content.usatoday.com/communities/onpolitics/post/2010/08/americans-for-prosperity-ads-/1 |access-date=May 10, 2015}} AFP President Tim Phillips later suggested that the reason for the Democrats' filing of the complaint was simply that they were scared of the impact the organization was having.{{Cite news|title = Americans for Prosperity Foundation Accused of Abusing Tax-Exempt Status|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/28/us/politics/28irs.html|newspaper = The New York Times|date = 2010-08-27|access-date = 2016-01-29|issn = 0362-4331|first = Eric|last = Lichtblau}}

In 2010 and 2011, AFP reported to the IRS that it was not involved in political activities.{{cite news |newspaper=The New York Times |title=As Anti-Climate Group's Activities Rise, So Do Questions About Its Secret Finances |first=Evan |last=Lehmann |agency=ClimateWire |date=October 12, 2011 |access-date=May 11, 2015 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/cwire/2011/10/12/12climatewire-as-anti-climate-groups-activities-rise-so-do-14988.html}} Questioned by a reporter before the 2012 Wisconsin recall elections, AFP's Wisconsin director said AFP was educating the public and not engaging in political activity.{{cite news |url=http://patch.com/wisconsin/hudson-wi/americans-for-prosperity-bus-tour-to-stop-in-hudson-on-june-1 |publisher=Patch Media |title=Americans For Prosperity Bus Tour to Stop in Hudson on June 1 |first=Micheal |last=Foley |date=May 23, 2012 |access-date=April 21, 2015 |quote="We're not dealing with any candidates, political parties or ongoing races," Hilgemann said. "We're just educating folks on the importance of the reforms."}}{{cite news |work=The Rachel Maddow Show |title=AFP fails the straight-face test |date=May 30, 2012 |author-link=Rachel Maddow |first=Rachel |last=Maddow |publisher=MSNBC |url=https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/afp-fails-the-straight-face-test |access-date=May 29, 2015 |quote="We're not dealing with any candidates, political parties, or ongoing races"}} In 2014, an AFP spokesperson said AFP had the right to keep its donors private, citing NAACP v. Alabama, a 1958 Supreme Court ruling that protected National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) donors from potential harassment.{{cite news |last1=Alpert |first1=Bruce |title=Americans for Prosperity on why it keeps donors secret and SEC won't appeal Stanford ruling: On the Hill|url=http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/09/americans_for_prosperity_on_wh.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140916010229/http://www.nola.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/09/americans_for_prosperity_on_wh.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=September 16, 2014 |access-date=27 April 2015 |newspaper=The Times-Picayune |date=September 6, 2014}} In 2014, Phillips said that protecting donors' identities was prudent given the Obama administration's ideology-based IRS targeting of citizens.{{cite news |date=August 11, 2014 |title=AFP's Tim Phillips on Harry Reid, GOP Senate Chances and Disclosing Donors |url=https://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2014/08/11/afps-tim-phillips-on-harry-reid-gop-senate-chances-and-disclosing-donors/ |access-date=May 10, 2015 |newspaper=The Wall Street Journal}}{{cite news |publisher=C-SPAN |work=Newsmakers |date=August 8, 2014 |url=http://www.c-span.org/video/?320921-1/newsmakers-tim-phillips |access-date=May 10, 2015 |title=Tim Phillips (political strategist)}}{{cite news |first=Nicholas |last=Confessore |newspaper=The New York Times |title=Secret Money Fueling a Flood of Political Ads |date=October 10, 2014 |access-date=June 3, 2015 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/11/us/politics/ads-paid-for-by-secret-money-flood-the-midterm-elections.html |quote="Given the record of this administration in using regulatory agencies like the I.R.S. in a retaliatory fashion, then it's understandable that there's concern about disclosure from a lot of individuals," said Tim Phillips, the president of Americans for Prosperity, a conservative organization that combines field efforts with large advertising campaigns.}} The AFP Foundation said its supporters have received serious threats. In February 2015, a federal judge granted the Foundation's motion for a preliminary injunction staying California Attorney General Kamala Harris's request for the names and addresses of Foundation donors, pending resolution of the legality of the request.{{cite news|last1=Pettersson|first1=Edvard|title=Koch Group Gets to Keep Donors Secret in California Lawsuit|newspaper=Bloomberg.com |date=17 February 2015 |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-02-17/koch-group-wins-order-blocking-california-donor-data-demand|publisher=Bloomberg|access-date=27 April 2015}}{{cite court |litigants=Americans for Prosperity v. Kamala Harris |date=February 23, 2015 |url=http://docs.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/california/cacdce/2:2014cv09448/605958/33 |court=California Central District Court |access-date=May 2, 2015}}

While AFP does not disclose its funding sources, some supporters have acknowledged their contributions and investigative journalism has documented others. AFP has been funded by the Kochs and others.

At AFP's 2009 Defending the Dream summit, David Koch said he and his brother Charles provided the initial funding for AFP.{{cite web |url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=123859296 |title=Who's Raising Money For Tea Party Movement? |first=Peter |last=Overby |date=February 19, 2010 |publisher=National Public radio |quote='Five years ago my brother Charles and I provided the funds to start the Americans for Prosperity. And it's beyond my wildest dreams how the AFP has grown into this enormous organization,' David Koch said}}{{cite AV media |title=Citizen Koch |people=Lessin, Tia and Deal, Carl |date=2013 |medium=Motion picture}} In initial funding, David Koch was the top contributor to the founding of the AFP Foundation at $850,000. Several American companies also provided initial funding of the AFP Foundation, including $275,000 from State Farm Insurance and lesser amounts from 1-800 Contacts, medical products firm Johnson & Johnson, and carpet and flooring manufacturer Shaw Industries.

Later grants from the Koch family foundations include $1 million in 2008 to AFP from the David H. Koch Charitable Foundation{{cite news |first=Rick |last=Cohen |title=The Starfish and the Tea Party, Part II |date=September 15, 2010 |access-date=June 18, 2015 |url=http://nonprofitquarterly.org/2010/09/15/the-cohen-report-the-starfish-and-the-tea-party-part-ii/ |publisher=Institute for Nonprofit News |magazine=Nonprofit Quarterly |quote=The Koch family does show up as a major funder of another of the national Tea Party infrastructure, Americans for Prosperity.}} and $3 million between 2005 and 2007 to the AFP Foundation from the Claude R. Lambe Charitable Foundation,{{cite news |title=Big money fuels health battle; U.S. attack ad linked to brothers who spend a fortune lobbying for libertarian agenda |last=Smith |first=Joanna |newspaper=Toronto Star |location=Toronto, Ontario |date=August 1, 2009 |page=A6 |url=https://www.thestar.com/life/health_wellness/2009/08/01/big_money_fuels_health_care_battle.html |access-date=March 30, 2015 |quote=Charles Koch is a director at the Claude R. Lambe Charitable Foundation, which is a major benefactor of the Americans for Prosperity Foundation. According to IRS documents, the Lambe foundation gave a total of just over $3.17 million in grants to the Americans for Prosperity Foundation from 2005 to 2007 to cover general operating costs.}} controlled by Charles Koch. Other grants from Koch-related funding sources include $32.3 million in 2012 and $1.5 million in 2013 from Freedom Partners{{cite news |title=Exclusive: The Koch brothers' secret bank |first1=Mike |last1=Allen |first2=Jim |last2=Vandehei |date=September 11, 2013 |access-date=April 22, 2015 |url=http://www.politico.com/story/2013/09/behind-the-curtain-exclusive-the-koch-brothers-secret-bank-96669.html |publisher=Politico |quote=The group, Freedom Partners, and its president, Marc Short, serve as an outlet for the ideas and funds of the mysterious Koch brothers}}{{citation |first=Paul |last=Blumenthal |title=Koch Central Bank Freedom Partners Distributed Millions In Dark Money In 2013 |date=September 18, 2014 |access-date=April 22, 2015 |publisher=Huffington Post |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/18/freedom-partners-koch_n_5840152.html |quote=Freedom Partners Chamber of Commerce, the central hub of the political empire of the billionaire brothers Charles and David Koch, reported raising $57.5 million in 2013 and disbursing $41.7 million to organizations in the Koch network.Freedom Partners, founded under the radar in 2011, emerged in 2012 as the main bank for Koch-related political operations.}}{{cite news |newspaper=The New York Times |title=Tax Filings Hint at Extent Of Koch Brothers' Reach |last=Confessore |first=Nicholas |date=September 13, 2013 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/13/us/politics/tax-filings-hint-at-extent-of-koch-brothers-reach.html |access-date=April 26, 2015 |quote=Freedom Partners, as the group is now known, is playing a bigger role for the Kochs as the brothers seek a tighter rein over the advocacy groups and political organizations that their donor network finances and expand their involvement in Republican political causes.}} and $4.2 million through 2011 to the AFP Foundation from the Center to Protect Patient Rights.{{cite web |url=http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2013/11/americans-for-prosperity-helped-churn-koch-linked-money/ |title=Americans for Prosperity Helped Churn Koch-Linked Money |last1=Maguire |first1=Robert |last2=Novak |first2=Viveca |date=November 15, 2013 |website=opensecrets.org |publisher=OpenSecrets |access-date=November 17, 2013 |quote=In previous years, AFP has been the beneficiary of grants from CPPR, to the tune of $4.2 million}}

Between 2003 and 2012, the AFP Foundation received $4.17 million from the John William Pope Foundation, chaired by AFP director Pope, the largest identifiable donor to the AFP Foundation.{{cite news |last=Clifton |first=Eli |date=November 3, 2014 |title=Who Else Is in the Koch Brothers Billionaire Donor Club? |magazine=The Nation |url=http://www.thenation.com/blog/187593/who-else-koch-brothers-billionaire-donor-club |access-date=April 25, 2015}}{{cite news |title=G.O.P.'s Full Control in Long-Moderate North Carolina May Leave Lasting Stamp |first=Kim |last=Severson |date=December 11, 2012 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/12/us/politics/gop-to-take-control-in-long-moderate-north-carolina.html |access-date=April 25, 2015 |newspaper=The New York Times}} In 2011, the AFP Foundation received $3 million from the foundation of the family of billionaire Richard DeVos, the founder of Amway, making the DeVos family the second largest identifiable donor to the AFP Foundation.{{cite news |magazine=Mother Jones |title=The Family That Gives Together |first1=Benjy |last1=Hansen-Bundy |first2=Andy |last2=Kroll |url=https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/01/devos-family-foundations-heritage-americans-prosperity-blackwater |date=January 2014 |access-date=August 27, 2015}} In 2010, AFP received half a million dollars from the Bradley Foundation.{{cite web |title=INSTITUTE INDEX: The money behind Americans for Prosperity |first=Sue |last=Sturgis |url=http://www.southernstudies.org/2012/03/institute-index-the-money-behind-americans-for-prosperity.html |publisher=Institute for Southern Studies |access-date=April 26, 2015 |date=March 8, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150518101317/http://www.southernstudies.org/2012/03/institute-index-the-money-behind-americans-for-prosperity.html |archive-date=2015-05-18 |url-status=dead }}{{cite web |title=Koch-Connected Group Shows Holes in Disclosure Requirements |first1=Viveca |last1=Novak |first2=Robert |last2=Maguire |date=March 5, 2012 |access-date=May 20, 2015 | work=OpenSecrets |url=http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2012/03/energy-industry-trade-groups/}} AFP received smaller grants in 2012 from tobacco company Reynolds American and in 2010 and 2012 from the American Petroleum Institute.{{cite news |agency=Center for Public Integrity |title=Tobacco giant funded conservative nonprofit |first=Dave |last=Levinthal |date=May 30, 2013 |url=http://www.publicintegrity.org/2013/05/30/12740/tobacco-giant-funded-conservative-nonprofits |access-date=April 26, 2015}}{{cite news |title=Chevron, Merck Disclose Funding to 2010 Attack-Ad Groups |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2012-03-29/chevron-merck-disclose-funding-to-2010-attack-ad-groups |first=Jonathan D |last=Salant |publisher=Bloomberg News |access-date=April 25, 2015 |date=March 29, 2012}}{{cite news |url=http://www.publicintegrity.org/2013/11/20/13791/dark-money-groups-give-big-similar-nonprofits |title='Dark money' groups give big to similar nonprofits |agency=Center for Public Integrity |first=Julie |last=Patel |date=November 20, 2013 |access-date=April 25, 2015}}{{cite news |agency=Center for Public Integrity |first=Michael |last=Beckel |date=November 10, 2014 |url=http://www.publicintegrity.org/2014/11/10/16257/koch-backed-nonprofit-raised-44-million-2013 |access-date=April 26, 2015 |title=Koch-backed nonprofit raised $44 million in 2013}} The donor-advised fund Donors Trust granted $11 million to AFP between 2002 and 2010 and $7 million to the AFP Foundation in 2010.{{cite news |title=Koch-funded charity passes money to free-market think tanks in states |first=Paul |last=Abowd |url=http://investigations.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/02/14/16939114-koch-funded-charity-passes-money-to-free-market-think-tanks-in-states |access-date=March 11, 2015 |date= February 14, 2013 |work=NBC News |agency=Center for Public Integrity}}{{cite news|title=How Donors Trust distributed millions to anti-climate groups |url=https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2013/feb/14/donors-trust-funding-climate-denial-networks |access-date=March 5, 2015 |newspaper=The Guardian |date=February 14, 2013 |author-link=Suzanne Goldenberg |first=Suzanne |last=Goldenberg}}

File:Sarah Palin, Americans for Prosperity 2011 zoomed out.jpg at the Americans for Prosperity-run Wisconsin 2011 Tax Day Tea Party Rally on April 16, 2011.]]

AFP helped transform the nascent Tea Party movement into a political force.{{cite magazine |title=David Koch Seeded Major Tea-Party Group, Private Donor List Reveals |first=Alex |last=Seitz-Wald |date=September 24, 2013 |access-date=March 20, 2015 |url=http://www.nationaljournal.com/politics/david-koch-seeded-major-tea-party-group-private-donor-list-reveals-20130924 |magazine=National Journal |quote=But a donor list filed with the IRS labeled "not open for public inspection" from 2003, the year of AFP's first filing, lists David Koch as by far the single largest contributor to its foundation, donating $850,000...Following Koch on the AFP Foundation donor list are a number of corporations, including State Farm, which gave $275,000, 1-800-Contacts, which donated $80,000, and Johnson & Johnson and Shaw Industries, which each gave $50,000. }}{{cite web |title=Money In Politics: The Companies Behind David Koch's Americans For Prosperity |first=Pema |last=Levy |date=September 24, 2013 |access-date=March 20, 2015 |url=http://www.ibtimes.com/money-politics-companies-behind-david-kochs-americans-prosperity-1410408 |website=International Business Times |quote=David Koch was the top contributor, providing $850,000. But a number of major American companies also gave hundreds of thousands to the upstart conservative group. At the top of the corporate list is insurance giant State Farm, which gave $275,000, followed by much smaller donations from 1-800-Contacts, which gave $80,000, and Johnson & Johnson and Shaw Industries, which each gave $50,000.}}

AFP supported the Tea Party movement by obtaining permits and supplying speakers for rallies.{{cite news |author-link= David Weigel |first=David |last=Weigel |title=Koch Industries distances itself from tea parties |url=http://voices.washingtonpost.com/right-now/2010/05/koch_industries_distances_itse.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111130154759/http://voices.washingtonpost.com/right-now/2010/05/koch_industries_distances_itse.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=November 30, 2011 |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=June 3, 2015 |date=May 11, 2010}} AFP helped organize and publicize a "Porkulus"-themed protest on the state capitol steps in Denver, Colorado on February 17, 2009, in conjunction with Obama signing the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.{{cite book |last=Fang |first=Lee |title=The Machine: A Field Guide to the Resurgent Right |place=New York |year=2013 |isbn=978-1595586391 |publisher=The New Press |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/machinefieldguid0000fang }}{{rp|31}}{{cite news |title=Anti-Stimulus Protests Sprout-Up |first=David |last=Hogberg |newspaper=Investor's Business Daily |date=February 20, 2015 |url=http://news.investors.com/economy/022009-469322-anti-stimulus-protests-sprout-up.htm |access-date=April 28, 2015}} Within hours of CNBC on-air editor Rick Santelli's remarks on February 19, 2009, that criticized the Act and called for a "Chicago tea party," AFP registered and launched the website "TaxDayTeaParty.com," calling for protests against Obama.{{rp|32}} AFP had a lead role in organizing Taxpayer Tea Party rallies in Sacramento, Austin, and Madison in April 2009.{{cite news |first=Chris |last=Kromm |title=Art Pope and the Corporate Takeover of Democracy |date=October 12, 2010 |access-date=June 3, 2015 |work=The Huffington Post |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-kromm/art-pope-and-the-corporat_b_758020.html}} AFP was one of the leading organizers of the September 2009 Taxpayer March on Washington, also known as the "9/12 Tea Party," according to The Guardian. On April 16, 2011, former Republican vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin was the keynote speaker at an AFP annual tax day tea party rally at the state capitol in Madison, Wisconsin.{{cite news |last=Schultz |first=Zac |title=Sarah Palin Travels To Madison |url=http://www.nbc15.com/home/headlines/Sarah_Palin_to_Visit_Madison_119856054.html |access-date=May 8, 2012 |publisher=WMTV |date=April 16, 2011 |location=Madison, Wisconsin}}

In the 2010 midterm elections, AFP played a major role in achieving a Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives. AFP supported tea party groups, purchased political advertisements,{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/06/us/cato-institute-and-koch-in-rift-over-independence.html |title=Cato Institute Is Caught in a Rift Over Its Direction |newspaper=The New York Times |date=March 6, 2012 |access-date=March 24, 2015 |first=Eric |last=Lichtblau}} and sponsored a nationwide bus tour themed "November is Coming" to recruit organizers and canvassers.{{cite news |title=Conservative Group Pushes to Enlist Thousands After Obama Suggests It's Foreign Influenced |date=August 12, 2010 |publisher=Fox News |url=https://www.foxnews.com/politics/conservative-group-pushes-to-enlist-thousands-after-obama-suggests-its-foreign-influenced/ |access-date=May 1, 2015}} AFP helped Tea Party groups organize voter registration drives. An AFP website offered "Tea party Talking Points." The organization provided Tea Party activists with education on policy, training in methods, and lists of politicians to target. In October 2010, AFP sponsored a workshop on the political use of the internet at a Tea Party convention in Virginia.{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/oct/13/tea-party-americans-for-prosperity |title=Americans For Prosperity sponsors Tea Party workshop |date=October 13, 2010 |newspaper=The Guardian |first=Ed |last=Pilkington |location=London |access-date=March 24, 2015}} AFP said it spent $40 million on rallies, phone banks, and canvassing during the 2010 election cycle. Of the six freshman Republican members of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce in 2010, five benefited from AFP advertisements and grassroots activity.{{cite news|first=Tom |last=Hamburger |author2=Kathleen Hennessey |author3=Neela Banerjee |title=Koch brothers now at heart of GOP power |date=2011-02-06 |url=https://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-koch-brothers-20110206,0,4692342,full.story |work=Los Angeles Times |access-date=2011-02-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110217132904/http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-koch-brothers-20110206%2C0%2C4692342%2Cfull.story |archive-date=February 17, 2011 |url-status=dead }}

David Weigel wrote in Slate that AFP "in the Tea Party era evolved into one of the most powerful conservative organizations in electoral politics."{{cite web |url=http://www.slate.com/blogs/weigel/2012/03/01/behind_the_cato_koch_kerfuffle.html |title=Behind the Cato-Koch Kerfuffle |magazine=Slate |date=March 1, 2012 |access-date=March 24, 2015 |first=David |last=Weigel |author-link=David Weigel}} AFP and the Tea Party share many of the same principles. In 2010, AFP was one of the most influential organizations in the Tea Party movement, and the largest in terms of membership and spending.{{cite web |url=http://www.nationaljournal.com/njonline/12-tea-party-players-to-watch-20100204 |title=12 Tea Party Players To Watch; A List Of Some Of The Most Influential And Talked-About Groups In The Grassroots Uprising |magazine=National Journal |date=February 4, 2010 |access-date=April 17, 2015 |first1=Christopher |last1=Snow Hopkins |first2=Siddhartha |last2=Mahanta |first3=Theresa |last3=Poulson}}{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/graphic/2010/09/26/GR2010092600175.html |title=The top national players in the tea party |newspaper=The Washington Post |first1=Amy|last1=Gardner|first2=Karen|last2=Yourish|first3=Laura|last3=Stanton|date=September 26, 2010 |access-date=April 17, 2015 |quote=Fresh off big primary wins, national tea party groups are refocusing their energy on November. A guide to five groups that influence the movement}} According to Bloomberg News, with AFP the Koch brothers "harnessed the Tea Party's energy in service of their own policy goals, including deregulation and lower taxes....As the Tea Party movement grew in the aftermath of Obama's election, the Kochs positioned Americans for Prosperity as the Tea Party's staunchest ally".

AFP advocates for a reduction in public sector union benefits and pensions, in conjunction with curtailments of public sector collective bargaining rights.{{cite news |title=Billionaire Brothers In Spotlight In Wis. Union Battle |date=February 25, 2011 |first=Peter |last=Overby |agency=NPR |access-date=May 13, 2015 |url=https://www.npr.org/2011/02/25/134040226/in-wis-union-battle-focus-on-billionaire-brothers |quote=The Koch brothers provided the seed money for Americans for Prosperity a decade ago – and more than $1 million overall.}}{{cite news |last1=Cooper |first1=Michael |first2=Steven |last2=Greenhouse |title=Unions debate what to give to save bargaining |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/28/us/28unions.html |access-date=May 1, 2015 |date=February 27, 2011 |page=A1}} AFP has opposed raising the minimum wage.{{cite web |title=Senate Republicans block Democratic push to raise minimum wage |first=Alan |last=Fram |agency=Associated Press |date=April 30, 2014 |publisher=PBS |work=PBS NewsHour |access-date=April 25, 2015 |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/senate-republicans-block-democratic-push-raise-minimum-wage/}}{{cite news |first=Rebecca |last=Kaplan |work=CBS News |date=April 30, 2014 |title=Minimum wage bill dies in Senate |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/minimum-wage-bill-dies-in-senate/ |access-date=April 25, 2015}}

AFP's activities in Wisconsin developed the state into the nation's foremost conservative-progressive battleground,{{cite news |magazine=The Atlantic |title=A Conservative Juggernaut's Long Game |date=June 16, 2014 |access-date=May 29, 2015 |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2014/06/the-koch-brothers-pac-is-just-warming-up/372851/ |first=Alex |last=Roarty}}{{cite news |title=Wisconsin's Legacy of Labor Battles |first=Kate |last=Zernike |newspaper=The New York Times |date=March 5, 2011}} and AFP used tactics in Wisconsin that were applied in later campaigns.

AFP has been a major supporter of Republican Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker.{{cite news |newspaper=Kenosha News |title=Americans for Prosperity throws its weight into Kenosha Unified School Board race |date=March 24, 2014 |first=Deneen |last=Smith |access-date=April 22, 2015 |url=http://www.kenoshanews.com/news/americans_for_prosperity_throws_its_weight_into_kenosha_unified_school_board_race_476239373.html |archive-url=https://archive.today/20150423065519/http://www.kenoshanews.com/news/americans_for_prosperity_throws_its_weight_into_kenosha_unified_school_board_race_476239373.html |archive-date=2015-04-23 |url-status=dead }} In 2009 and 2010, AFP helped raise the statewide profile of Walker, then Milwaukee County county executive, by inviting him to address its rallies.{{cite news |title=Scott Walker Is King of Kochworld |date=February 17, 2015 |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/politics/articles/2015-02-17/scott-walker-is-king-of-kochworld |access-date=April 20, 2015 |first=Julie |last=Bykowicz |work=Bloomberg News}} In 2011, when Walker's agenda of reduced spending, cuts to union benefits, and limits on public-sector collective bargaining drew thousands in opposition to the streets around the state capitol in Madison, AFP bussed in hundreds to counter-protest.{{cite news |last=Lipton |first=Eric |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/22/us/22koch.html |title=Billionaire Brothers' Money Plays Role in Wisconsin Dispute |newspaper=The New York Times |date=February 21, 2011 |access-date=March 23, 2015 |page=A16}} AFP spent $320,000 on television advertisements and sponsored a website and bus tour themed "Stand Against Spending, Stand With Walker",{{cite news |title=Wisconsin gov. caught in prank by caller posing as donor |agency=Associated Press |newspaper=USA Today |url=http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/2011-02-23-wisconsin-public-unions_N.htm |access-date=April 20, 2015 |date=February 23, 2011}}{{cite news |work=Reuters |date=February 26, 2011 |title=Analysis: Koch brothers a force in anti-union effort |first=Andrew |last=Stern |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-wisconsin-koch-idUSTRE71P28W20110226 |access-date=May 11, 2015}}{{cite news |title=Pro-Walker bus tour ends in Madison as protests at Capitol continue |date=March 7, 2011 |first1=Doug |last1=Erickson |first2=Ron |last2=Seely |newspaper=Wisconsin State Journal |url=http://host.madison.com/news/local/govt-and-politics/pro-walker-bus-tour-ends-in-madison-as-protests-at/article_7aba1f46-4854-11e0-b468-001cc4c03286.html |access-date=April 20, 2015}} and spent a total of $7 million in support of Walker.

AFP spent $3 million in opposition to the recall campaign against Walker in 2011–2012 and sent 75 trained canvassers to Wisconsin.{{cite news |first1=Phil |last1=Hirschkorn |first2=Nancy |last2=Cordes |work=CBS News |date=June 7, 2012 |title=A record amount of money spent on Wisconsin recall |access-date=April 20, 2015 |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/a-record-amount-of-money-spent-on-wisconsin-recall/}}{{cite news |title=Billionaire Koch brothers gave $8 million to Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker recall campaign, Dem chair says |first=Tom |last=Kertscher |date=June 20, 2012 |access-date=May 29, 2015 |url=http://www.politifact.com/wisconsin/statements/2012/jun/20/debbie-wasserman-schultz/billionaire-koch-brothers-gave-8-million-wisconsin/ |work=PolitiFact}}{{cite news |magazine=The New York Times Magazine |title=How Did Wisconsin Become the Most Politically Divisive Place in America? |first=Dan |last=Kaufman |date=May 24, 2012 |access-date=May 29, 2015 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/27/magazine/how-did-wisconsin-become-the-most-politically-divisive-place-in-america.html}} After the passage of Walker's signature legislation, the 2011 Wisconsin Act 10, which limited collective bargaining rights for most public employees, AFP ran advertisements and held town-hall meetings with the theme "It's Working Wisconsin!"{{cite web |url=http://www.jsonline.com/news/wisconsin/its-rally-season-in-wisconsin-c24gjov-142091613.html |title=Capitol rally to mark one year since Act 10 |newspaper=Milwaukee Journal Sentinel |access-date=March 30, 2015 |date=March 9, 2012 |first=Bill |last=Glauber}}{{cite news |title=Americans for Prosperity spending big in new ad touting Walker |date=May 27, 2014 |first=John |last=Beard |agency=WKOW |publisher=WGEM-TV |url=http://www.wgem.com/story/25619623/2014/05/27/americans-for-prosperity-spending-big-in-new-ad-touting-walker |location=Madison, Wisconsin |access-date=2015-05-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150529004614/http://www.wgem.com/story/25619623/2014/05/27/americans-for-prosperity-spending-big-in-new-ad-touting-walker |archive-date=2015-05-29 |url-status=dead }} Days before the recall election, AFP sponsored a ten-city bus tour themed "A Better Wisconsin."{{cite news |title=Americans for Prosperity: Our Pro-Walker Bus Tour Has Nothing to Do With Recall |first=Andy |last=Kroll |date=May 28, 2012 |access-date=April 20, 2015 |url=https://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2012/05/americans-for-prosperity-wisconsin-bus-tour-walker-recall |magazine=Mother Jones }}{{cite news |agency=CNN |title=Crunch time for recall volunteers |first=Chris |last=Welch |date=June 4, 2012 |access-date=May 27, 2015 |url=http://www.cnn.com/2012/06/03/politics/wisconsin-recall-bus-tour/}} In the context of Walker's 2014 reelection campaign, AFP purchased television issue advertisements in support of Act 10.{{cite news |title=Americans For Prosperity Buys Airtime For New Political Ad |date=May 27, 2014 |first=Shawn |last=Johnson |publisher=Wisconsin Public Radio |url=http://www.wpr.org/americans-prosperity-buys-airtime-new-political-ad |access-date=April 20, 2015}}

Americans for Prosperity's Wisconsin campaign curtailing collective bargaining rights and turning back a recall demonstrated to AFP that similar efforts could succeed in Michigan.{{cite news |newspaper=The Washington Post |title=In Michigan, heart of organized labor, Republicans push to limit union power |first=Philip |last=Rucker |date=December 7, 2012 |access-date=May 3, 2015 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/in-michigan-heart-of-organized-labor-republicans-push-to-limit-union-power/2012/12/07/a9583a2a-4098-11e2-bca3-aadc9b7e29c5_story.html}} A top priority of AFP in Michigan was right-to-work legislation, which prohibited employers from deducting union dues from employee pay checks and prohibited labor contracts from excluding non-union members.{{cite news |first=Lee |last=Fang |author-link=Lee Fang |title=Pro–'Right to Work' Groups In Michigan Outspend Union Counterparts |date=December 8, 2012 |url=http://www.thenation.com/blog/171663/pro-right-work-groups-michigan-outspend-union-counterparts |access-date=May 3, 2015 |magazine=The Nation}}{{cite news |title=Koch Brothers' Americans for Prosperity are leading the charge for Snyder's 'Right to Work' bill |date=December 6, 2012 |access-date=May 3, 2015 |url=http://www.lansingstatejournal.com/article/20121206/NEWS04/312060056/Koch-Brothers-Americans-Prosperity-leading-charge-Snyder-s-Right-Work-bill |newspaper=Lansing State Journal |first=Greg |last=Gardner |agency=Detroit Free Press}}

AFP had opposed Michigan Governor Rick Snyder, a Republican, on a number of issues, including the Detroit River International Crossing Bridge project, an expansion of Medicaid funded by the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, and a road bill which raised taxes. AFP coordinated support for right-to-work in Michigan.{{cite news |first=John |last=Nichols |author-link=John Nichols (journalist) |title=GOP, Koch Brothers Sneak Attack Guts Labor Rights in Michigan |date=December 6, 2012 |access-date=May 4, 2015 |magazine=The Nation |url=http://www.thenation.com/blog/171641/gop-koch-brothers-sneak-attack-guts-labor-rights-michigan}} The AFP Foundation produced a 15-page booklet titled Unions: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly: How forced unionization has harmed workers and Michigan. AFP's website urged members to gather at the state capital in Lansing on December 6, 2012, and some three hundred protestors showed up. AFP bussed in activists and offered supporters $25 gas cards, free lunch, and drinks.{{cite news |magazine=Mother Jones |title=Americans for Prosperity Lures Michigan Right-to-Work Fans With Gas Cards, Free Food |first=Andy |last=Kroll |date=December 11, 2012 |access-date=May 4, 2015 |url=https://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2012/12/americans-for-prosperity-michigan-right-to-work-gas-cards-free-food}} AFP reserved space and erected a large heated tent near the Capitol steps for supporters.{{cite news |first=Jonathan |last=Oosting |date=December 11, 2012 |access-date=May 4, 2015 |publisher=Booth Newspapers |title=Michigan right to work: Tensions rise as Americans For Prosperity tent falls outside Capitol |url=http://www.mlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2012/12/michigan_right_to_work_tension.html}} On the morning of December 6, during a lame duck session of the Republican-controlled Michigan legislature, Snyder called a joint press conference with the legislative leadership to announce fast-track right-to-work legislation. The legislation passed both houses of the Michigan legislature that day, as protesters and counterprotesters demonstrated outside.{{cite news |agency=Associated Press |publisher=Fox News |title=Michigan legislators defy unions, OK right-to-work |date=December 7, 2012 |access-date=May 4, 2015 |url=http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/story/20286272/michigan-legislators-defy-unions-ok-right-to-work |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121216010202/http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/story/20286272/michigan-legislators-defy-unions-ok-right-to-work |archive-date=2012-12-16 |url-status=dead }} Michigan state police responded. AFP said protesters tore down the AFP tent. No arrests were made. On December 10, President Obama visited Daimler AG's Detroit Diesel factory in Redford, Michigan, and told employees the legislation was about the "right to work for less money."{{cite news |work=CBS News |title=Obama takes on union fight in Michigan |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/obama-takes-on-union-fight-in-michigan/ |access-date=May 4, 2015 |date=December 10, 2012 |first=Brian |last=Montopoli}}{{cite news |title=How Michigan's Right-To-Work Law Came to Be |date=December 11, 2012 |first=Theresa |last=Riley |url=http://billmoyers.com/2012/12/11/how-michigans-right-to-work-law-came-to-be/ |access-date=May 5, 2015 |publisher=Public Affairs Television |work=Moyers & Company}} Snyder signed the legislation on December 11.{{cite news |work=CBS News |first=Brian |last=Montopoli |date=December 11, 2012 |title=Right-to-work signed into law in Michigan |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/right-to-work-signed-into-law-in-michigan/ |access-date=May 4, 2015}} In 2014, Snyder ran for reelection and AFP posted an online advertisement praising his legislative record.{{cite news |title=Michigan Political Points: Americans for Prosperity touts common ground with Gov. Rick Snyder |first=Jonathan |last=Oosting |date=November 1, 2014 |access-date=May 4, 2015 |url=http://www.mlive.com/lansing-news/index.ssf/2014/11/michigan_political_points_amer_1.html |publisher=Booth Newspapers}}

AFP ran an early television advertising campaign opposing Obama's reelection.{{cite news |title=Record Political Ad Spending Powered by Special Interests |first=Julia |last=Boorstin |date=November 8, 2011 |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2011/11/08/record-political-ad-spending-powered-by-special-interests.html |access-date=April 30, 2015 |publisher=CNBC}} An August 2012 ProPublica analysis of broadcast television political advertising purchases by category showed that two nonprofit organizations, AFP and Crossroads GPS, combined, outspent all other categories, including political parties, political action committees, super PACs, unions, and trade associations.{{cite web |title=Two Dark Money Groups Outspending All Super PACs Combined |first=Kim |last=Barker |publisher=ProPublica |date=August 13, 2012 |access-date=April 26, 2015 |url=https://www.propublica.org/article/two-dark-money-groups-outspending-all-super-pacs-combined |quote=Two conservative nonprofits, Crossroads GPS and Americans for Prosperity, have poured almost $60 million into TV ads to influence the presidential race so far, outgunning all super PACs put together, new spending estimates show.}} While previously AFP had run issue advertising that opposed Obama's programs, in August 2012 the organization shifted to express advocacy, which explicitly called for his defeat.{{cite news |title=By urging Obama's defeat, Koch group keeps donors hidden |date=August 7, 2012 |first=Melanie |last=Mason |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2012-aug-07-la-pn-koch-group-donors-obama-20120807-story.html |access-date=May 8, 2015 |newspaper=Los Angeles Times}}{{cite news |title=Americans for Prosperity steps up campaign against Obama|date=August 24, 2012 |first=Matea |last=Gold |url=https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-xpm-2012-aug-24-la-pn-americans-for-prosperity-against-obama-20120824-story.html |access-date=May 8, 2015 |newspaper=Los Angeles Times}}{{cite news |newspaper=The New York Times |title=Non-profit: Americans for Prosperity |url=http://elections.nytimes.com/2012/campaign-finance/pac/americans-for-prosperity |year=2012 |first1=Jeremy |last1=Ashkenas |first2=Matthew |last2=Ericson |first3=Alicia |last3=Parlapiano |first4=Derek |last4=Willis}} That month, AFP spent $25 million on television commercials against Obama. AFP said the goal of the commercials was to educate voters. AFP raised $140 million in the 2012 election cycle, and it spent $122 million, more than in all the previous eight years since its founding. The organization spent more than $33.5 million on television advertisements opposing Obama's reelection.{{cite news | url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/decision2012/conservative-groups-reaching-new-levels-of-sophistication-in-mobilizing-voters/2012/09/20/3c3cd8e8-026c-11e2-91e7-2962c74e7738_story.html| title=Conservative groups reaching new levels of sophistication in mobilizing voters | newspaper=The Washington Post | author1=Peter Wallsten |author2=Tom Hamburger| date=September 20, 2012|access-date=2012-09-21}}

In 2011 and 2012, AFP spent $8.4 million in swing states on television advertisements denouncing a loan guarantee the Department of Energy had made to Solyndra, a manufacturer of solar panels. Solyndra was the first recipient of such a guarantee under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, and the company went bankrupt.{{cite web |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2012-10-17/solyndra-lenders-ahead-of-government-won-t-recover-fully |title=Solyndra Lenders Ahead of Government Won't Recover Fully |first=Michael |last=Bathon |date=October 17, 2012 |work=Bloomberg Business |access-date=November 14, 2014}} In January 2012, The Wall Street Journal said AFP's Solyndra campaign was "perhaps the biggest attack on Mr. Obama so far in the 2012 election campaign."{{cite news |url=https://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2012/01/14/americans-for-prosperity-to-air-ads-slamming-obamas-ties-to-solyndra/ |title=Americans for Prosperity to Air Ads Slamming Obama's Ties to Solyndra |first=Brody |last=Mullins |series=Washington Wire blog|date=January 14, 2012 |access-date=July 22, 2015 |work=The Wall Street Journal |quote=One of the largest of these independent conservative groups, an organization called Americans for Prosperity, will launch next week what is perhaps the biggest attack on Mr. Obama so far in the 2012 election campaign. Beginning Monday, Americans for Prosperity will air ads criticizing the president's handling of Solyndra, the solar-energy firm that went bankrupt after receiving grants from the government.}} AFP sent a bus on a nationwide tour condemning Obama's economic policies called the "Obama's Failing Agenda Tour."{{cite news |title= Wealthy outside political groups find a home in Minnesota |work=Minnesota Public Radio |access-date=March 24, 2015 |url=http://www.mprnews.org/story/2012/09/25/politics/wealthy-outside-political-groups-target-minnesota |first=Catharine |last=Richert |date=September 25, 2012}}{{cite news |title=Americans for Prosperity puts big money on legislative races in Arkansas |first=T. W. |last=Farnam |date=October 1, 2012 |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=June 1, 2015 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/decision2012/americans-for-prosperity-puts-big-money-on-legislative-races-in-arkansas/2012/10/01/5169598a-0686-11e2-a10c-fa5a255a9258_story.html}}

In April 2011 in New Hampshire, AFP sponsored an informal gathering of five Republican presidential candidates, including Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty, Michele Bachmann, Rick Santorum, and Herman Cain.{{cite news |date=April 29, 2011 |title=Republicans jockey for position in New Hampshire |first=Steve |last=Holland |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-campaign-republicans-idUSTRE73S7FD20110430}}{{cite news |date=May 2, 2011 |title=Romney will sit out first Republican presidential debate |first=Michael |last=O'Brien |url=https://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/89989-romney-will-sit-out-first-republican-presidential-debate/ |newspaper=The Hill |access-date=March 23, 2015}} AFP offered Tea Party groups $2 for every new AFP member their volunteers signed up at polling places in the February 2012 Florida Republican primary.{{cite news |title=Koch-Funded Group Paying Tea Partiers to Collect Voters' Personal Info |first=Stephanie |last=Mencimer |date=January 30, 2012 |access-date=March 23, 2015 |url=https://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2012/01/americans-for-prosperity-paying-tea-partiers-collect-voters-personal-info |magazine=Mother Jones}} AFP employed methodologies developed in its efforts to thwart the recall of Wisconsin governor Scott Walker, including deploying a smartphone application called "Prosperity Knocks" to canvassers. AFP canvassers utilized "Themis", an online voter database of millions of Americans.{{cite news |last=Pilkington |first=Ed |date=October 18, 2012 |title=Koch-backed activists use power of data in bid to oust Obama from White House |newspaper=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/oct/18/koch-backed-activists-americans-for-prosperity |access-date=March 24, 2015 |quote=Classified a non-profit "social welfare" organisation, AFP is legally obliged to project itself as a non-partisan campaign that neither endorses nor opposes candidates for public office.}}{{cite news |title=Karl Rove vs. the Koch brothers |first=Kenneth P. |last=Vogel |author-link=Kenneth P. Vogel |date=October 10, 2011 |access-date=March 24, 2015 |url=http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1011/65504.html |publisher=Politico}} Phillips said that AFP's canvassing support application offered field operatives the previous voting history of voters integrated with census data and consumer data including purchases, magazine subscriptions, and favorite websites.{{cite news |title=Koch brothers' non-profit hits the ground in swing states |first=Fredreka |last=Schouten |newspaper=USA Today |date=August 23, 2012 |access-date=March 24, 2015 |url=http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/politics/story/2012-08-23/koch-brothers-election-north-carolina/57254832/1}}

{{see also|The Power of Big Oil|l1=The Power of Big Oil}}

AFP supports oil and gas development and opposes regulation, including environmental restrictions.{{cite news |title=Americans for Prosperity: Koch brothers' advocacy gets local in Colorado |date=August 12, 2014 |first=Sandra |last=Fish |url=http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/8/12/colorado-kochtopusamericansprosperity.html |access-date=May 11, 2015 |agency=Al Jazeera |quote=AFP – and the Kochs – are strong supporters of oil and gas development and strong opponents of regulation, especially environmental restrictions.}} The AFP Foundation opposed Obama's efforts to address global warming.{{cite news|title=Montana Republicans join fight against Obama health care reforms |last=Dennison |first=Mike |newspaper=Missoulian |location=Missoula, Montana |date=May 30, 2009 |url=http://missoulian.com/news/local/montana-republicans-join-fight-against-obama-health-care-reforms/article_f0b6e594-76f5-51eb-b1e8-e2f5d0f59def.html |page=A1}} AFP was important in creating the Tea Party movement and in encouraging the movement to focus on climate change.{{cite book |last1=Dryzek |first1=John S. |author-link1=John Dryzek |first2=Richard B. |last2=Norgaard |author-link2=Richard Norgaard |first3=David |last3=Schlosberg |title=The Oxford Handbook of Climate Change and Society |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=2011 |isbn=978-0199683420 |page=154}} AFP helped defeat proposed U.S. legislation embracing cap and trade, a market-based approach to control pollution by providing economic incentives.{{cite web | url=http://investigativereportingworkshop.org/investigations/the_koch_club/story/Koch_climate_pledge_strategy/ | title=Koch: Climate pledge strategy continues to grow | work=Investigative Reporting Workshop | publisher=American University School of Communication | date=July 1, 2013 | access-date=March 23, 2015 | last1=Holmberg | first1=Eric | first2=Alexia | last2=Fernandez Campbell | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402101439/http://investigativereportingworkshop.org/investigations/the_koch_club/story/Koch_climate_pledge_strategy/ | archive-date=2015-04-02 | url-status=dead }} In August 2009, Mother Jones magazine identified cap and trade as one of the key domestic policy goals of the Obama administration, and identified AFP as one of the most prominent groups in opposition.{{cite news |title=Town Hall Protests: Astroturf 2.0? |first1=Ben |last1=Buchwalter |first2=Nikki |last2=Gloudeman |date=August 19, 2009 |magazine=Mother Jones |access-date=May 11, 2015 |url=https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2009/08/astroturf-20}}

In 2008, AFP circulated the No Climate Tax Pledge to government officials at the federal, state, and local levels, a pledge to "oppose any legislation relating to climate change that includes a net increase in government revenue."{{cite news |work=Grist.org |title=How the Koch brothers screwed over the climate even more than you know |url=https://grist.org/politics/how-the-koch-brothers-screwed-over-the-climate-even-more-than-you-know/ |date=July 2, 2013 |access-date=February 2, 2016}}{{cite news |url=https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/koch-pledge-tied-to-congressional-climate-inaction |title=Koch Pledge Tied to Congressional Climate Inaction |magazine=The New Yorker |date=July 1, 2007 |access-date=March 23, 2015 |last=Mayer |first=Jane |author-link=Jane Mayer}} By July 2013, 411 lawmakers and candidates, including a quarter of U.S. Senators and more than a third of U.S. Representatives, primarily Republicans, had signed the pledge. Of the twelve Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee in 2011, nine signed the pledge.{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-xpm-2011-feb-06-la-na-koch-brothers-20110206-story.html |title=Koch brothers now at heart of GOP power |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=February 6, 2011 |access-date=May 11, 2015 |first1=Tom |last1=Hamburger |first2=Kathleen |last2=Hennessey |first3=Neela |last3=Banerjee}}

AFP held more than eighty events in opposition to cap and trade, including the nationwide Hot Air Tour, which involved floating hot air balloons in protest of what AFP described as "global warming alarmism." AFP raised a balloon in Phoenix, Arizona, in fall 2008Andrew Ross, Bird on Fire: Lessons From the World's Least Sustainable City (New York: Oxford University Press: 2011), p. 152) and also over Al Gore's house in Tennessee. AFP described cap and trade as "the largest excise tax in history." AFP sponsored a Regulation Reality Tour to foment opposition to climate change legislation and federal regulation of carbon emissions.{{cite news |title=Climate Change Doubt Is Tea Party Article of Faith |first=John M. |last=Broder |date=October 20, 2010 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/21/us/politics/21climate.html |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=March 24, 2015}} The tour involved fake "carbon cops" with badges in green Smart cars with flashing lights who wrote citations for "carbon crimes" like running a lawn mower.{{cite news |title=The Case for EPA Action |first=Christian |last=Parenti |date=April 15, 2010 |access-date=March 24, 2015 |url=http://www.thenation.com/article/case-epa-action |magazine=The Nation}} In 2011, AFP launched a Running on Empty website and national tour featuring a 14-foot inflatable gas pump intended to link rising gas prices to the Obama administration's environmental regulations and to promote offshore drilling for oil.{{cite news |date=August 24, 2011 |title=Big Oil drama returns to Colorado; left, right argue about energy and Grandma |first=Lynn |last=Bartels |newspaper=The Denver Post |url=http://blogs.denverpost.com/thespot/2011/08/24/big-oil-drama-returns-to-colorado-left-right-argue-about-energy-and-grandma/37151/ |access-date=April 22, 2015}}{{cite news |publisher=Politico |url=http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0611/56297.html |title=Right aims to pin pump pain on W.H. |access-date=April 22, 2015 |first=Ben |last=Smith |date=June 6, 2011}} Long lines formed in several states in 2012 when AFP offered drivers gas discounted to the price in effect when Obama took office.{{cite news |title=Pay Like It's 2009! Illinois Gas Station Offers Pre-Obama Gas Prices; The nationwide "Obama's Failing Agenda Tour" is offering drivers cheap 2009 gas prices to protest the President's energy policies |first=Emma |last=O'Connor |date=October 9, 2012 |access-date=June 1, 2015 |url=https://newsfeed.time.com/2012/10/09/pay-like-its-2009-illinois-gas-station-offers-pre-obama-gas-prices/ |magazine=Time}}{{cite news |title=Political Stunt Offers Gas at $1.84 Per Gallon |url=http://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/Political-Stunt-Offers-Gas-at-184-Per-Gallon-174453601.html |work=NBC News |date=October 16, 2012 |access-date=May 4, 2014}}{{cite news |title=Hundreds line up for $1.84 gas at Mt. Morris Township gas station as part of political attention-getter |first=Jeremy |last=Allen |date=October 1, 2012 |access-date=May 4, 2015 |url=http://www.mlive.com/business/mid-michigan/index.ssf/2012/10/hundreds_line_up_for_184_gas_a.html |newspaper=Booth Newspapers}} In 2012, AFP campaigned against Republican political candidates who acknowledged the science of climate change.{{cite news |title=Large Companies Prepared to Pay Price on Carbon |first=Coral |last=Davenport |date=December 5, 2013 |access-date=June 2, 2015 |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/05/business/energy-environment/large-companies-prepared-to-pay-price-on-carbon.html}}

AFP advocates for the construction of the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline. In February 2015, AFP organized supporters to telephone the White House urging Obama to sign legislation authorizing the project.{{cite news |title=Americans for Prosperity launch push for White House to sign Keystone bill |first=Laura |last=Barron-Lopez |date=February 13, 2015 |access-date=May 13, 2015 |newspaper=The Hill |url=https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/232803-americans-for-prosperity-launch-push-for-white-house-to-sign/}} AFP led an effort to repeal a federal tax credit for wind power.{{cite news |title=A Kansas twister: Wind energy politics complicate governor's race |date=September 19, 2014 |first=Jonathan M. |last=Katz |url=http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/9/19/kansas-wind-energybrownback.html |access-date=May 6, 2014 |publisher=Al Jazeera America}}{{cite news |title=Conservative groups seek limits during lame duck on wind energy subsidies |first=Tom |last=Hamburger |date=December 8, 2014 |access-date=May 6, 2015 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2014/12/08/conservative-groups-seek-limits-during-lame-duck-on-wind-energy-subsidies/ |newspaper=The Washington Post}} In Kansas, Ohio, North Carolina, and other states, AFP campaigned to overturn renewable portfolio standards, state laws that mandated a percentage of the state's electricity come from renewable resources.{{cite news |title=Koch brothers, big utilities attack solar, green energy policies |first=Evan |last=Halper |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=April 14, 2014 |access-date=March 24, 2015 |url=https://www.latimes.com/nation/la-na-solar-kochs-20140420-story.html}}{{cite news |title=Ohio Poised to Break From U.S. Push for Renewable Energy |first=Mark |last=Niquette |date=May 20, 2014 |access-date=May 11, 2015 |magazine=Bloomberg Business |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2014-05-21/ohio-poised-to-break-from-u-s-push-for-renewable-energy}}{{cite web |title=Renewable Energy: Kansas Gov Brownback Pushes Plan To Weaken State Mandate; Texas, North Carolina Advance Similar Bills |first=Maria |last=Gallucci |date=May 6, 2015 |access-date=May 11, 2015 |website=International Business Times |url=http://www.ibtimes.com/renewable-energy-kansas-gov-brownback-pushes-plan-weaken-state-mandate-texas-north-1911052}}{{cite news |newspaper=The Wall Street Journal |title=Green-Energy Mandates Find Improbable Allies |first=Ryan |last=Tracy |date=July 17, 2013 |access-date=May 11, 2015 |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424127887324260204578584262604997312}} AFP announced plans to oppose Republican candidates who support a carbon tax in the 2016 presidential primaries.{{cite news|title=Why Republicans Keep Telling Everyone They're Not Scientists|first=Coral|last=Davenport|date=October 30, 2014|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=March 20, 2015|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/31/us/why-republicans-keep-telling-everyone-theyre-not-scientists.html}}

File:TimPhillipsAFP.jpg in October 2009]]

AFP has described itself as the nation's largest grassroots champion for health care freedom. In August 2009, Mother Jones magazine identified health care reform as one of the key domestic policy goals of the Obama administration, and identified AFP as one of the most prominent groups in opposition. AFP sponsored two other groups advocating against the Obama administration's proposed health care reform, Patients United Now and Patients First.

In May 2009, AFP launched Patients United Now, which opposed a single-payer health care system and a government-funded health insurance option. It purchased television advertisements warning of "government-controlled health care" or a "Washington takeover" of health care. In one Patients United Now television advertisement, a Canadian woman, Shona Holmes, said she could not get timely treatment in Canada and ultimately was treated in the U.S.{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2009-aug-09-fi-lazarus9-story.html |title=Healthcare debate framed by fear-mongering ads|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|date=2009-08-09 |access-date=2010-10-21|first=David|last=Lazarus}} Patients United Now staged more than three hundred rallies to oppose the Obama administration's proposed Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA).{{cite news |title= The billionaire brothers bankrolling the get-Obama-out campaign |first=Lara |last=Marlowe |date=November 12, 2011 |newspaper=The Irish Times |location=Dublin |url=https://www.irishtimes.com/life-and-style/people/the-billionaire-brothers-bankrolling-the-get-obama-out-campaign-1.10983 |access-date=March 30, 2015}}

In summer 2009, Patients First sponsored a six-week "Hands Off My Health Care" bus tour.{{cite news |title=Bus Tour, Campaign-Style Events to Promote Health-Care Reform |first=Dan |last=Eggen |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=August 31, 2009 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/30/AR2009083002654.html |access-date=March 30, 2015}} Hands Off My Health Care events included rallies protesting against the health care plan and collected signatures in an effort to raise awareness about free-market-based health care reforms.{{cite news |url=http://www.twcnews.com/archives/nc/charlotte/2009/07/22/group-protests-obama-s-push-for-health-care-reform-NC_612300.old.html |title=Group protests Obama's push for health care reform |date=July 22, 2009 |access-date=March 30, 2015 |publisher=Time Warner Cable News |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402140043/http://www.twcnews.com/archives/nc/charlotte/2009/07/22/group-protests-obama-s-push-for-health-care-reform-NC_612300.old.html |archive-date=2015-04-02 |url-status=dead }}{{cite news |url=http://www.wect.com/story/10865825/americans-for-prosperity-protest-the-presidents-health-care-plan |title=Americans for Prosperity protest the President's health care plan |date=August 7, 2009 |publisher=WECT |location=Wilmington, North Carolina}}

After the ACA became law, AFP worked for its repeal and campaigned to block states from accepting federal funds made available under the law to expand Medicaid. State legislators who supported Medicaid expansion were targeted, including Republican Virginia state senators Emmett Hanger and John Watkins. AFP bussed in volunteers to a hearing in the state capital and to call constituents, distribute flyers, and send mailings.{{cite news |last=Stolberg |first=Sheryl Gay |title=States Are Focus of Effort to Foil Health Care Law |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/19/us/politics/states-are-focus-of-effort-to-foil-health-care-law.html |date=October 18, 2013 |work=The New York Times |access-date=October 19, 2013 }} AFP campaigned against Medicaid expansion in Michigan, Louisiana, and Nebraska{{cite news |title=How Americans for Prosperity's Obamacare attacks could backfire on GOP |first=Greg |last=Sargent |date=February 27, 2014 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2014/02/27/how-americans-for-prosperitys-obamacare-attacks-could-backfire-on-gop/ |access-date=May 4, 2015 |newspaper=The Washington Post}} and helped defeat Medicaid expansion in Florida. AFP president Phillips said AFP advocated for repeal of the ACA to keep the issue "in front of the public" and to use the threat of a presidential veto to portray Obama as "unwilling to take some reasonable commonsense reforms."{{cite news |title=Americans for Prosperity Is Just Getting Started |first=Alex |last=Roarty |url=http://www.nationaljournal.com/magazine/americans-for-prosperity-is-just-getting-started-20140612 |access-date=May 1, 2015 |magazine=National Journal |date=June 12, 2014}} Phillips told The New York Times that a broader goal of AFP's anti-ACA advertising spending was to present the ACA as a "social welfare boondoggle" which would foster opposition to spending on climate change.{{cite news |last1=Hulse |first1=Carl |last2=Parker |first2=Ashley |date=March 20, 2014 |title=Koch Group, Spending Freely, Hones Attack on Government |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/21/us/politics/koch-group-seeks-lasting-voice-for-small-government.html |access-date=April 30, 2015 |quote=The Kochs, with billions in holdings in energy, transportation and manufacturing, have a significant interest in seeing that future government regulation is limited.}}{{cite news |title=The next health-care debate |first=E.J. |last=Dionne Jr. |author-link=E. J. Dionne |date=March 23, 2014 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/ej-dionne-the-next-health-care-debate/2014/03/23/5492a1cc-b12d-11e3-95e8-39bef8e9a48b_story.html |access-date=April 30, 2015 |newspaper=The Washington Post}}{{cite news |access-date=April 30, 2015 |newspaper=The Washington Post |title=The real goal of all those anti-Obamacare ads |date=March 21, 2014 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2014/03/21/the-real-goal-of-all-those-anti-obamacare-ads/ |first=Greg |last=Sargent}} In March 2012, AFP, with support from the California-based Tea Party Express, organized a rally at the Capitol during the Supreme Court's oral arguments regarding the constitutionality of the ACA.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/09/us/politics/white-house-works-to-shape-debate-over-health-law.html |title=White House Works to Shape Debate Over Health Law | first=Robert | last=Pear | date=March 9, 2012 | newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=March 30, 2015}}

AFP played a major role in the 2014 midterm elections,{{cite news |newspaper=The Washington Post |title=IRS plan to curb politically active groups is threatened by opposition from both sides |first=Matea |last=Gold |date=February 12, 2014 |access-date=May 28, 2015 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/irs-plan-to-curb-politically-active-groups-threatened-by-opposition-from-both-sides/2014/02/12/99dcfd2a-932a-11e3-b46a-5a3d0d2130da_story.html}} helping Republicans achieve a majority in the U.S. Senate.{{cite news |title=Americans for Prosperity President: GOP Budget Could 'Blow Their Majority Up' |first=Scott |last=Bland |url=http://www.nationaljournal.com/politics/americans-for-prosperity-president-gop-budget-could-blow-their-majority-up-20150315 |magazine=National Journal |access-date=May 13, 2015 |date=March 15, 2015}} AFP targeted legislators who had supported the ACA four years earlier.{{cite news |title=Outside Money Drives a Deluge of Political Ads |first=Ashley |last=Parker |date=July 27, 2014 |access-date=April 30, 2015 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/28/us/politics/deluge-of-political-ads-is-driven-by-outside-money.html |newspaper=The New York Times}} AFP's first campaign advertisement aired in September 2013,{{cite news |title=Koch-backed group launches new attack on health care law |first=Fredreka |last=Schouten |newspaper=USA Today |date=September 19, 2013 |access-date=April 30, 2015 |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/09/19/affordable-care-act-advertising-exchanges-health-care-president-obama-americans-for-prosperity-koch-brothers/2833979/}} and by January 2014 the organization had spent $20 million,{{cite news |title=Ads Attacking Health Law Stagger Outspent Democrats |first=Carl |last=Hulse |date=January 15, 2014 |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/01/15/us/politics/ads-attacking-on-health-law-stagger-outspent-democrats.html |access-date=April 30, 2015}} by May, $35 million,{{cite news |title=$10-million ad campaign joins 'avalanche' of anti-Obamacare ads |first=Maeve |last=Reston |url=https://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/politicsnow/la-pn-new-10-million-ad-campaign-avalanche-obamacare-ads-20140520-story.html |access-date=April 30, 2015 |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |date=May 20, 2014}} and by July, $44 million, amounts unprecedented so early in a political campaign cycle. Senators targeted Kay Hagan, Mary Landrieu, Mark Begich, and Jeanne Shaheen, all Democrats. In early 2014, AFP ran nationwide advertisements featuring stories about people whose health care, according to the ads, had been compromised by the ACA, whom AFP termed "ObamaCare victims."

Between January 1, 2013, and August 31, 2014, in the campaign to control the Senate, AFP aired more than 27,000 television advertisements, about one in every 16 ads.{{cite news |title=GOP's Senate hopes energized by Koch network ad blitz |first=Michael |last=Beckel |date=September 4, 2014 |agency=Center for Public Integrity |access-date=May 2, 2015 |url=http://www.publicintegrity.org/2014/09/04/15459/gop-s-senate-hopes-energized-koch-network-ad-blitz}} AFP was one of the leading spenders on political advertising in 2014.{{cite news |title=In key election states, conservative groups build a ground game |url=https://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/la-na-afp-data-wars-20141026-story.html |first=Maeve |last=Reston |date=October 25, 2014 |access-date=May 11, 2015 |newspaper=Los Angeles Times}} AFP lead all non-political action committees in terms of spending on television air time for political advertisements in the 2014 election cycle through April.{{cite news | work=OpenSecrets |url=https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2014/04/dark-money-spending-three-times-more-than-at-same-time-in-2012-cycle-crp-testifies/ |access-date=May 8, 2015 |title=Dark Money Spending Three Times More Than at Same Time in 2012 Cycle, CRP Testifies |date=April 30, 2014}}

AFP advocates limited government. Within two days of Obama's inauguration in January 2009, AFP launched a television advertising campaign and a website, "nostimulus.com", that featured an online "No Stimulus" petition addressed to U.S. senators, notifying them that the vote on Obama's first major legislative initiative, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, would be included in AFP's congressional rankings and urging a "no" vote. The petition characterized the Act as "dramatically increasing federal debt and spending...under the pretense of stimulus or recovery." Internet traffic overwhelmed the website, but it was unable to prevent passage in the legislature and a petition to repeal the act.{{rp|109}}{{cite news |date=February 9, 2009 |title='No Stimulus' Petition Illustrates Public Anger Over Plan |newspaper=The Wall Street Journal |access-date=April 25, 2015 |url=https://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2009/02/09/no-stimulus-petition-illustrates-public-anger-over-plan/}}{{cite news |title=Americans For Prosperity: "No Stimulus" Petition Circulated |work=The Huffington Post |first=Rachel |last=Weiner |date=March 13, 2009 |access-date=April 25, 2015 |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/02/10/americans-for-prosperity_n_165574.html}} In 2011, AFP opposed the extension of unemployment benefits, writing that unemployment benefits increase unemployment.{{cite news |title=It's Time for Congress to Stop Paying People Not to Work |author-link1=Phil Kerpen |first1=Phil |last1=Kerpen |first2=Adam |last2=Berkland |date=December 5, 2011 |access-date=May 1, 2015 |url=https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/its-time-for-congress-to-stop-paying-people-not-to-work |publisher=Fox News}}{{cite web |title=The Economic Follies of Extending Unemployment Insurance |date=December 10, 2013 |first=Casey |last=Given |url=http://americansforprosperity.org/article/the-economic-follies-of-extending-unemployment-insurance |access-date=May 1, 2015 |publisher=Americans for Prosperity |archive-url=http://webarchive.loc.gov/all/20150410183924/http://americansforprosperity.org/article/the-economic-follies-of-extending-unemployment-insurance |archive-date=2015-04-10 |url-status=dead }} In late 2012, AFP opposed a proposed federal relief bill after Hurricane Sandy, the second-costliest hurricane in U.S. history.{{cite book |author-link=Naomi Klein |last=Klein |first=Naomi |title=This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs the Climate |publisher=Simon & Schuster |date=2014 |isbn=978-1451697384}}{{cite news |magazine=The Nation |first=Lee |last=Fang |author-link=Lee Fang |title=David Koch Now Taking Aim at Hurricane Sandy Victims |date=December 22, 2012 |url=http://www.thenation.com/blog/171906/david-koch-now-taking-aim-hurricane-sandy-victims |access-date=April 29, 2015}} AFP's New Jersey director questioned the federal government's role in natural disaster relief, saying it should be limited to the repair of federal buildings.{{cite news |publisher=NJTV |title=Americans for Prosperity NJ Director Disagrees with $60B Sandy Aid, Changes to Gun Control Laws |date=December 17, 2012 |url=http://www.njtvonline.org/news/video/americans-for-prosperity-nj-director-disagrees-with-60b-sandy-aid-changes-to-gun-control-laws/ |access-date=April 29, 2015}} AFP opposed smoking bans in Texas and Virginia.{{cite news |first=Anita |last=Kumar |date=February 5, 2009 |access-date=June 1, 2015 |url=http://voices.washingtonpost.com/virginiapolitics/2009/02/legislators_targeted.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130202111245/http://voices.washingtonpost.com/virginiapolitics/2009/02/legislators_targeted.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=February 2, 2013 |newspaper=The Washington Post |title=Legislators Targeted On Smoking Ban}}{{cite news |title=Smoking ban battle could flare anew |first=Gary |last=Emerling |newspaper=The Washington Times |date=March 2, 2009 |url=http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/mar/2/smoking-ban-battle-could-flare-anew/ |access-date=June 1, 2015}}

File:AmericansForProsperityRally.jpeg speaking at the "Cut the spending now" rally at the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C., on April 6, 2011 sponsored by Americans for Prosperity.]]

"Government overspending is the greatest threat to economic prosperity," according to AFP.{{cite news |title=Americans For Prosperity: Sequestration Will Help Economy |work=The Huffington Post |first=Bonnie |last=Kavoussi |date=March 4, 2013 |access-date=April 25, 2015 |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/03/04/americans-for-prosperity-sequestration_n_2807981.html}}{{cite news |title=Sequestration will restore balance: Opposing view |author-link=Tim Phillips (political strategist) |first=Tim |last=Phillips |date=February 28, 2013 |newspaper=USA Today |access-date=April 25, 2015 |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/2013/02/28/sequestration-americans-for-prosperity/1955271/?tr=y&auid=12197563}} In 2013, AFP launched a "Spending Accountability Project" which supported letting the $85 billion in automatic cuts to federal spending required by the budget sequestration take effect.{{cite news |title=Americans for Prosperity campaigns to let the sequester take effect in March |first=T.W. |last=Farnam |date=February 14, 2013 |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=April 25, 2015 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/americans-for-prosperity-campaigns-to-let-the-sequester-take-effect-in-march/2013/02/14/fa339670-76cf-11e2-95e4-6148e45d7adb_story.html}}{{cite news |title=Conservative groups urge GOP to let budget cuts go forward |date=February 28, 2013 |first=Matea |last=Gold |access-date=April 25, 2015 |url=https://www.latimes.com/politics/la-xpm-2013-feb-28-la-pn-conservative-groups-gop-sequestration-20130228-story.html |newspaper=Los Angeles Times}} AFP opposed the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2013, also known as the Ryan-Murray deal, which proposed $40 billion in spending in excess of the sequestration. AFP said the deal was "not just bad policy, it is bad politics" and noted the loss of the "hard-won bipartisan spending limits set by the sequester."{{cite news |title=House Passes Bipartisan Budget Deal |first=Laura |last=Matthews |date=December 12, 2013 |access-date=April 25, 2015 |url=http://www.ibtimes.com/house-passes-bipartisan-budget-deal-1506818 |newspaper=International Business Times}}{{cite news |title=Budget deal breaks through partisan gridlock |first=Terence |last=Burlij |date=December 11, 2013 |url=https://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/budget-deal-breaks-through-partisan-gridlock/ |publisher=PBS |work=PBS NewsHour}}

AFP advocates lower taxes.{{cite news |last=Rothschild |first=Scott |date=July 22, 2008 |title=Group against taxes seeks pledges from candidates |newspaper=Lawrence Journal-World |location=Lawrence, Kansas |url=http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2008/jul/22/group_against_taxes_seeks_pledges_candidates/ |access-date=May 18, 2015}} AFP opposed a 2006 cigarette tax hike in Indiana{{cite news |title=All Taxpayers Pay When Politicians Raise Tobacco Taxes for Bigger Government, Says Americans for Prosperity |url=http://www.newson6.com/story/5698655/all-taxpayers-pay-when-politicians-raise-tobacco-taxes-for-bigger-government-says-americans-for-prosperity |publisher=KOTV-DT |access-date=June 1, 2015 |date=November 17, 2006}} and helped fund the "No on 29" effort in opposition to California Proposition 29 (2012), which would have placed a $1 excise tax on tobacco products to fund smoking medical research and smoking cessation.{{cite news |title=Proposition 29 could raise $735M; Opponents question fund use |date=May 11, 2012 |access-date=June 1, 2015 |first=John |last=North |location=Sacramento, California |agency=ABC News |url=http://abc7.com/archive/8658901/}}{{cite news |title=Tobacco companies blitz airwaves to block California tax on cigarettes |newspaper=The Guardian |first=Rory |last=Carroll |date=June 4, 2012 |access-date=June 1, 2015 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/business/2012/jun/04/california-prop-29-cigarette-tax}} In 2013 in Indiana, AFP ran a television advertising campaign in support of Governor Mike Pence's ten percent state income tax cut.{{cite news |title=Tea Party Group Advocating For Pence Tax Cut |first=Brandon |last=Smith |date=March 7, 2013 |access-date=May 5, 2015 |url=http://indianapublicmedia.org/news/tea-party-group-advocating-pence-tax-cut-46200/ |publisher=WTIU}} AFP advocates for the repeal of the estate tax, which it calls the "death tax".{{cite news |newspaper=The Hill |date=August 8, 2014 |title=The House should vote to kill the death tax |first=Christine |last=Harbin Hanson |url=https://thehill.com/blogs/congress-blog/economy-budget/214610-the-house-should-vote-to-kill-the-death-tax/ |access-date=June 5, 2015 |agency=Americans for Prosperity}}

AFP advocates for free market solutions. In 2011, AFP sent mailings and funded radio advertisements criticizing the proposed construction of the Gordie Howe International Bridge, a publicly financed project that would compete with the nearby privately owned Ambassador Bridge linking Detroit, Michigan, with Windsor, Ontario; AFP charged that the project would be a waste of taxpayer money if toll revenues did not cover debt service.{{cite news |newspaper=The Wall Street Journal |title=Is Span Plan a Bridge Too Far? |first=Joseph B. |last=White |date=October 10, 2011 |access-date=April 19, 2015 |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052970203791904576609282656749982}}{{cite news |magazine=Bloomberg Business |title=Detroit Span Owner Keeps Canada Crossing With Koch Aid |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2011-09-14/detroit-bridge-owner-gets-kochs-backing-to-keep-canada-crossing-his-alone |first=Chris |last=Christoff |access-date=April 19, 2015 |date=September 16, 2011}} The bridge will be funded by Canada, and paid back with toll revenues.{{cite news |date=June 15, 2012 |title=$1B Windsor–Detroit Bridge Deal Struck |work=CBC News |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/1b-windsor-detroit-bridge-deal-struck-1.1141713 |access-date=June 15, 2012}}

AFP advocated the dissolution of the Export-Import Bank of the United States.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/15/opinion/joe-nocera-export-import-bank-big-companies-compete.html |newspaper=The New York Times |title=Helping Big Companies Compete |date=July 14, 2014 |author-link=Joe Nocera |first=Joe |last=Nocera |access-date=May 10, 2015}}{{cite web |url=http://www.politico.com/story/2014/07/ex-im-bank-splash-campaigns-108833.html|title=2014's sleeper issue: A bank nobody's heard of |author=Eric Bradner |work=POLITICO|date=13 July 2014 }}{{cite news |title=Tea Party Divided by Export-Import Bank |first=Jonathan |last=Weisman |date=March 9, 2015 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/10/business/smallbusiness/small-business-leaders-wage-counteroffensive-to-save-export-import-bank.html |access-date=May 17, 2015 |newspaper=The New York Times}}

AFP opposes consideration of race and economic class in the assignment of students to schools. According to the group's North Carolina state director, in 2009 the AFP ran voter education courses and supplied volunteers in school board-elections in Wake County, North Carolina. Wake County includes the state capital, Raleigh, and has the 18th-largest school district. AFP supported candidates who opposed desegregation busing, which AFP has called "forced busing".{{cite news |title=Weak Tea Party Connection to Wake County, N.C., School Board |first=Ben |last=Adler |date=January 21, 2011 |access-date=May 13, 2015 |url=http://www.newsweek.com/weak-tea-party-connection-wake-county-nc-school-board-210530 |magazine=Newsweek}}{{cite news |magazine=Mother Jones |title=How the Koch Brothers Backed Public-School Segregation |first=Andy |last=Kroll |date=August 15, 2011 |access-date=May 13, 2015 |url=https://www.motherjones.com/mojo/2011/08/koch-brothers-school-segregation-americans-prosperity}}{{cite news |magazine=The New Yorker |date=October 10, 2011 |title=State for Sale |first=Jane |last=Mayer |url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/10/10/state-for-sale |access-date=May 13, 2015}} The group ran phone banks and canvassed in another school board election in Kenosha, Wisconsin, in 2014. It also helped organize rallies in favor of virtual and charter schools.{{cite news |title=How Online Learning Companies Bought America's Schools |author-link=Lee Fang |first=Lee |last=Fang |date=November 16, 2011 |magazine=The Nation |url=http://www.thenation.com/article/164651/how-online-learning-companies-bought-americas-schools |access-date=June 2, 2015}}

AFP is a member of the Internet Freedom Coalition, which opposes net neutrality.{{cite news|url=http://www.marketwatch.com/story/conservative-group-takes-aim-at-net-neutrality-2011-03-09?mod=wsj_share_tweet|title=Net neutrality under fire from conservative group|author=John Letzing|work=MarketWatch}}{{cite web |url=http://www.internetfreedomcoalition.com/?p=419 |title=RELEASE: Internet Freedom Coalition Opposes the Left's Campaign to Regulate the Internet |publisher=Internet Freedom Coalition |date=April 26, 2010 |access-date=May 10, 2015}}{{cite web |url=http://www.internetfreedomcoalition.com/?page_id=9 |title=Coalition Members |publisher=Internet Freedom Coalition |access-date=May 1, 2015}} AFP's vice president for policy Phil Kerpen chaired the coalition. AFP supported January 2014's federal appeals court ruling against the Federal Communications Commission's authority to enforce net neutrality.{{cite news |last=Wyatt |first=Edward |title=US court curbs FCC authority on Web traffic |newspaper=The New York Times |page=A1 |date=April 6, 2010 |access-date=May 1, 2015 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/07/technology/07net.html}}{{cite web |url=http://americansforprosperity.org/article/court-ruling-on-net-neutrality-is-a-step-in-the-right-direction |title=Net Neutrality Court Ruling |publisher=Americans for Prosperity |date=January 22, 2014 |first=Kuper |last=Jones |access-date=May 7, 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150427162041/http://americansforprosperity.org/article/court-ruling-on-net-neutrality-is-a-step-in-the-right-direction |archive-date=April 27, 2015 |url-status=dead }} AFP urged Congress to legislatively preempt regulation of the internet.{{cite web |url=http://www.politico.com/morningtech/0514/morningtech13962.html |title=What happens next on net neutrality |first=Alex |last=Byers |work=Politico |date=May 16, 2014 |access-date=May 5, 2015}}

In 2016, AFP sponsored the Grassroots Leadership Academy, a training program designed to help build a conservative movement in response to the rise of Trumpism.{{cite news |author=Ashley Parker and Maggie Haberman |title=With Koch Brothers Academy, Conservatives Settle In for Long War |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/07/us/politics/kochs-republican-conservative.html |newspaper=NYT |date=September 6, 2016 |access-date=September 7, 2016}} In February 2023, the group hardened its stance against Trump, saying it would work to support a different Republican presidential nominee and that "we need to turn the page on the past".{{Cite news |last=Leary |first=Alex |title=Billionaire Charles Koch-Backed Group Will Push GOP to Move Past Donald Trump |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/billionaire-charles-koch-backed-group-will-push-gop-to-move-past-donald-trump-11675570703 |access-date=2023-03-18 |newspaper=Wall Street Journal |date=5 February 2023 |language=en-US}}

APF also backs Concerned Veterans for America (CVA), which advocates for greater outsourcing of health care from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.{{Cite news |last=Lee |first=Michelle Ye Hee; Lisa Reinl; and David Weigel |date=April 7, 2018 |title=How a Koch-backed veterans group gained influence in Trump’s Washington |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/how-a-koch-backed-veterans-group-gained-influence-in-trumps-washington/2018/04/07/398b67c4-3784-11e8-9c0a-85d477d9a226_story.html |work=Washington Post}} In 2016, CVA was placed in a group with other AFP projects, including the Latino front group Libre Initiative and the youth front group Generation Opportunity.{{Cite web |last=Armiak |first=David |date=2018-11-27 |title=The Koch Brothers' Freedom Partners Group Spends $115.2 Million in 2017 |url=https://www.exposedbycmd.org/2018/11/26/koch-brothers-freedom-partners-group-spends-115-2-million-2017/ |access-date=2024-11-27 |website=EXPOSEDbyCMD |language=en-US}}

After Trump's 2024 reelection, the AFP announced a $20 million campaign to try to extend the tax cuts he introduced during his first term. This was part of a "herculean undertaking" to support deeper tax cuts and an "unwinding [of] as many of the growth and innovation killing regulations as possible".{{Cite news |last=Pilkington |first=Ed |date=2025-01-27 |title=Charles Koch’s network launches $20m campaign backing Trump tax breaks |url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/27/koch-americans-for-prosperity-trump-tax-breaks |access-date=2025-02-06 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}

File:Mark Levin tips hat.jpg at a Defending the American Dream event in 2007]]

In 2007, AFP began hosting a yearly Defending the American Dream Summit, which was for a time the second-largest annual gathering of conservatives in Washington, D.C.{{cite news |title=An insider's guide to the upcoming week |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=October 1, 2007 |page=A.2 |first=Rachel |last=Dry |quote=It's the first "Defending the American Dream Summit," put on by the Americans for Prosperity Foundation, and Mitt Romney, Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, Fred Thompson, Sam Brownback and Ron Paul are to speak.}}{{cite news |title='Koch Primary' Tests Hopefuls In the G.O.P. |first=Ashley |last=Parker |date=January 20, 2015 |access-date=March 23, 2015 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/21/us/koch-seminar-is-early-proving-ground-for-gop-hopefuls.html |newspaper=The New York Times}} In conjunction with the July 2008 Netroots Nation conference in Austin, Texas, AFP hosted RightOnline, a conference of conservative bloggers and activists that aimed to develop conservative social media strategies,{{cite news |first=Jose Antonio|last=Vargas |title=In Texas, the Right Boots Up to Gain Strength Online |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/07/17/AR2008071702662_pf.html |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=July 18, 2008 |access-date=April 17, 2009}}{{cite news| url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB121634010883763999 | work=The Wall Street Journal | title=In Online Politicking, Republicans Play Catch-Up | first=Amy | last=Schatz | date=July 18, 2008}} which became an annual event.{{cite web |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2011/06/conservative-fun-with-andrew-breitbart-et-al-at-right-online/240646/ |title=Conservative Fun with Andrew Breitbart et al. at Right Online |first=Tina |last=Dupuy |magazine=The Atlantic |access-date=May 10, 2015 |date=June 18, 2011}}

In June 2011, AFP placed fake eviction notices on doors in the Delray neighborhood of Detroit, stating that homes might be taken to make way for the Detroit River International Crossing project.{{cite news |first=John |last=Gallagher |url=http://www.freep.com/article/20110607/BUSINESS06/110607025/Conservative-group-Fake-eviction-notices-were-meant-startle-people- |title=Conservative group: Fake eviction notices were 'meant to startle people' |newspaper=Detroit Free Press |date=June 7, 2011 |access-date=April 21, 2015 |publisher=Gannett}}{{Cite news |last=Condon |first=Stephanie |date=2011-06-08 |title=Koch-backed group's fake eviction notices rile up Detroit - CBS News |url=https://www.cbsnews.com/news/koch-backed-groups-fake-eviction-notices-rile-up-detroit/ |access-date=2024-08-09 |language=en-US}}

In August 2011, AFP mailed absentee voter applications to Democratic voters in at least two recall elections in Wisconsin that included a filing deadline two days after the election. The return envelopes were addressed to an "Absentee Ballot Application Processing Center" with the post office box number of Wisconsin Family Action, a socially conservative group, rather than to the clerk's office.{{cite web|last=Catanese |first=David |url=http://www.politico.com/blogs/davidcatanese/0811/AFP_Wisconsin_ballots_have_late_return_date.html?showall |title=AFP Wisconsin ballots have late return date |publisher=Politico |date=2011-08-01 |access-date=2012-05-03}}{{cite web |url=http://www.isthmus.com/news/news/unofficial-absentee-ballot-mailings-raise-voter-intimidation-issues-in-wisconsin-recall-elections/ |title=Unofficial absentee ballot mailings raise voter intimidation issues in Wisconsin recall elections |first=Jessica |last=Opoien |access-date=March 21, 2015 |newspaper=Isthmus |location=Madison, Wisconsin |date=August 2, 2011}} Responding to charges of voter suppression, AFP said the incorrect date was a "printing mistake" and was intended only for voters in the two districts where Democrats are set to face recalls on a later date.{{cite news|last=Sargent|first=Greg|title=Americans for Prosperity sent misleading absentee ballot far more widely than previously known|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/post/americans-for-prosperity-sent-misleading-absentee-ballot-far-more-widely-than-previously-known/2011/03/03/gIQAxhcywI_blog.html|newspaper=Washington Post|access-date=21 November 2011|date=August 5, 2011}}{{cite web|url=http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0811/60515.html |title=Americans for Prosperity: Wrong date a 'printing mistake' |first=David |last=Catanese |publisher=Politico |date=August 2, 2011 |access-date=March 24, 2015}} The state board of elections opened an investigation.{{cite news |title=Koch group investigated for faulty mailers |date=September 29, 2014 |first=Zachary |last=Roth |access-date=March 21, 2015 |url=https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/koch-group-behind-faulty-mailers-isnt-first-time |publisher=MSNBC}}

In 2013 in Virginia and 2014 in Arkansas, the AFP Foundation mailed "voter history report cards," which included the public-record voting history of both the addressee and its neighbors.{{cite news |title=Voter-shaming tactics spark angry backlash |first=Jim |last=McConnell |url=http://www.chesterfieldobserver.com/news/2013-11-20/Front_Page/Votershaming_tactics_spark_angry_backlash.html |date=November 20, 2013 |access-date=March 23, 2015 |newspaper=Chesterfield Observer |location=Chesterfield County, Virginia |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402110920/http://www.chesterfieldobserver.com/news/2013-11-20/Front_Page/Votershaming_tactics_spark_angry_backlash.html |archive-date=2015-04-02 |url-status=dead }}{{cite news |title=Public voter report card upsets eastern Henrico neighborhood |date=November 8, 2013 |access-date=March 23, 2015 |first=Ashley |last=Monfort |url=http://www.nbc12.com/story/23920012/public-voter-report-card-upsets-eastern-henrico-neighborhood |publisher=NBC |location=Richmond, Virginia}}{{cite news |title=Koch group mailing a 'voter history report card' |first=Max |last=Brantley |date=October 22, 2014 |url=http://www.arktimes.com/ArkansasBlog/archives/2014/10/22/koch-group-mailing-a-voter-history-report-card |newspaper=Arkansas Times}}

A 2014 television advertisement targeting Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Gary Peters of Michigan for his support of the Affordable Care Act featured leukemia patient Julie Boonstra, who said she could no longer afford the cost of her treatment after the ACA.{{cite news |first=Ashley |last=Woods |title=Obamacare Attack Ad May Actually Expose Obamacare Success Story |date=February 20, 2014 |access-date=March 31, 2015 |url=https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/02/20/obamacare-ad-julie-boonstra_n_4823167.html |work=The Huffington Post}}{{cite news| url=https://www.foxnews.com/politics/cancer-patient-defends-obamacare-criticism-after-dem-goes-after-ad/ | work=Fox News | title=Cancer patient defends ObamaCare criticism after Dem goes after ad | date=February 24, 2014}} The Washington Post reported that the advertisement had "significant factual errors and/or obvious contradictions."{{cite news| url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/fact-checker/wp/2014/03/11/update-julia-boonstras-claim-her-obamacare-plan-is-unaffordable-gets-downgraded-to-three-pinocchios/ | newspaper=The Washington Post | title=A hard-hitting anti-Obamacare ad makes a claim that doesn't add up |access-date=March 30, 2015 |first=Glenn |last=Kessler |date=February 20, 2014}} Boonstra would save at least $1,000 a year under the ACA, according to The Detroit News.{{cite news |date=March 11, 2014 |newspaper=The Detroit News |title=Policy for patient in ad $1K cheaper |first=Marisa |last=Schultz }}{{cite news |url=http://www.mlive.com/lansing-news/index.ssf/2014/03/michigan_delegation_julie_boon.html |title=Michigan Delegation: Julie Boonstra, star of Americans for Prosperity ad, to pay less after Affordable Care Act |first=Fritz |last=Klug |date=March 16, 2014 |access-date=March 31, 2015 |publisher=MLive Media Group}} AFP aired another television advertisement in which Boonstra said Peters was trying to silence her.{{cite web |publisher=Americans for Prosperity |date=March 4, 2014 |access-date=May 15, 2015 |url=http://americansforprosperity.org/article/new-afp-ad-obamacare-victim-not-backing-down-from-shameful-peters-tactics |title=New AFP ad: ObamaCare victim Not Backing Down from Shameful Peters Tactics |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150518114323/http://americansforprosperity.org/article/new-afp-ad-obamacare-victim-not-backing-down-from-shameful-peters-tactics |archive-date=May 18, 2015 |url-status=dead }}{{cite news |title=Conservative Group Counters Criticism of Ad Against Health Law |first=Carl |last=Hulse |date=March 3, 2014 |newspaper=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/03/04/us/politics/conservative-group-counters-criticism-of-ad-against-health-law.html |access-date=March 31, 2015}} AFP apologized for another television advertisement that criticized the ACA and Democratic Senator Mark Udall, a candidate for reelection, using images of a somber Obama and Udall from their visit to Aurora, Colorado, in the wake of the mass shooting there.{{cite news |url=https://www.msnbc.com/politicsnation/americans-for-prosperity-obamacare-ad-controversy |title= Conservative group under fire for latest anti-Obamacare ad |last1=Whitaker |first1=Morgan |date=April 23, 2014 |publisher=MSNBC |access-date=March 31, 2015}}

In April 2014, AFP mailed voters in at least eight West Virginia counties material that may have led them to believe they were ineligible to vote in an upcoming primary election. The mailings, received just before the deadline to update voter registration, included registration cards and prepaid return envelopes addressed to county clerks, with a message cautioning voters that if they did not update their voter registration, they might lose their right to vote in the upcoming primary election. AFP's West Virginia director said the mailings were a non-partisan, get out the vote effort targeting unregistered voters.{{cite news |url=http://www.wvgazette.com/article/20140422/GZ01/140429746 |date=April 22, 2014 |title=Voters getting misleading info from group, Tennant says |first=Paul J. |last=Nyden |access-date=March 23, 2015 |newspaper=The Charleston Gazette}}

In September 2014, AFP was investigated by the state board of elections of North Carolina after the state Democratic Party filed a complaint regarding an AFP voter registration mailing labelled "official application form" containing inaccurate information including an incorrect filing deadline five days before the actual deadline.{{cite news |title=NC residents mailed incorrect voter registration information |first=Amanda |last=Albright |date=September 25, 2014 |access-date=March 22, 2015 |url=http://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article10071788.html |newspaper=The News & Observer |location=Raleigh, North Carolina}}{{cite news |title=NC elections board investigating AFP's error-filled mailer to voters |first=Lynn |last=Bonner |date=September 29, 2014 |access-date=March 22, 2015 |url=http://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article10077713.html |newspaper=The News & Observer |location=Raleigh, North Carolina}} AFP stated the mistakes in the North Carolina mailings were "administrative errors."{{cite news |title=AFP says administrative errors behind mistakes in voter registration forms |first=Amanda |last=Albright |date=September 26, 2014 |access-date=March 22, 2015 |url=http://www.newsobserver.com/news/politics-government/state-politics/article10073624.html |newspaper=The News & Observer |location=Raleigh, North Carolina}}

In 2017, AFP ran ads attacking Virginia Democratic candidate for governor Ralph Northam.{{cite news|last1=Nirappil|first1=Fenit|title=s Koch group launches ad campaign against Democrat Northam in Virginia governor's race|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/virginia-politics/koch-group-launches-ad-campaign-against-northam-in-virginia-governors-race/2017/09/05/70d5dfdc-9268-11e7-89fa-bb822a46da5b_story.html|access-date=October 11, 2017|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=September 6, 2017}}

In 2018, the New Hampshire attorney general's office began investigating the nonprofit status of AFP after a group of Republican representatives accused the conservative activist group of improperly wading into state elections. The investigation is ongoing.{{Cite web|url=http://www.concordmonitor.com/New-Hampshire-Attorney-General-to-investigate-Americans-for-Prosperity-s-non-profit-status-during-campaign-season-18455776|title=N.H. AG investigating Americans for Prosperity nonprofit status during campaign season|last=DeWitt|first=Ethan|date=June 26, 2018|work=Concord Monitor|access-date=July 5, 2018}}

The organization said that it may support Democrats in the 2020 United States elections as part of a broader effort to adjust its strategy.{{cite news|url=https://www.politico.com/story/2019/06/07/koch-network-gives-bipartisanship-a-chance-1356571|author=Maggie Serverns|title=Koch network floats backing Democrats in revamp of influence operation|work=Politico|date=June 7, 2019|access-date=June 7, 2019}}

In March 2023, the group said it was opposing Trump's reelection as president and was seeking an alternative to Kari Lake in her 2024 Senate run.{{Cite news |last=Collins |first=Eliza |title=Kari Lake Is Considering Senate Run, Making Some Republicans Nervous |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/kari-lake-is-considering-senate-run-making-some-republicans-nervous-85a80081 |access-date=2023-03-17 |newspaper=Wall Street Journal |date=11 March 2023 |language=en-US}}

The group supported Lily Wu's successful campaign for mayor of Wichita, Kansas, in the November 2023 election. Wu had completed an associate program at the Charles Koch Institute.{{cite web|url=https://www.kansas.com/news/politics-government/election/article281062588.html|title=Wu says Wichitans want a leader they can be proud of. She's ready to 'get back to the basics'|first=Matthew|last=Kelly|work=The Wichita Eagle|date=October 29, 2023|accessdate=November 7, 2023}}

On November 28, 2023, the group announced its support for Nikki Haley in her campaign for the Republican Party's nomination for president of the United States in the 2024 United States presidential election.{{cite web |url=https://afpaction.com/nikki-haley-a-proven-leader-who-will-deliver-on-her-promises-and-restore-the-american-dream/ |title=Nikki Haley: A Proven Leader Who Will Deliver on Her Promises and Restore the American Dream |date=November 28, 2023 |publisher=Americans for Prosperity Action |website=afpaction.com |access-date=March 18, 2024 }}

On February 25, 2024, after she lost the primary in her home state, the group cut funding to Haley's campaign.{{cite web |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2024/02/25/koch-network-halts-nikki-haley-funding-after-south-carolina-loss.html |title=Billionaire-backed Koch network halts Nikki Haley campaign funding after South Carolina loss |last=Picciotto |first=Rebecca |date=February 25, 2024 |publisher=CNBC |access-date=March 18, 2024 }}{{cite web |url=https://www.politico.com/news/2024/02/25/koch-afp-nikki-haley-00143212 |title=Koch network stops expending on Nikki Haley's presidential campaign |last=Allison |first=Natalie |date=February 25, 2024 |publisher=Politico |access-date=March 18, 2024 }}

• Alex Hertel-Fernande. 2019. [https://global.oup.com/academic/product/state-capture-9780190870799 State Capture: How Conservative Activists, Big Businesses, and Wealthy Donors Reshaped the American States – and the Nation.] Oxford University Press.

{{portal|Conservatism}}

• Donors Trust
• Mark Block, former AFP Wisconsin state director
• Political activities of the Koch brothers

{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}

{{commons category|Americans for Prosperity}}

• [http://www.americansforprosperity.org/ Americans for Prosperity website]
• [http://www.americansforprosperityfoundation.org/ Americans for Prosperity Foundation website]
• [https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/753148958 Tax information on Americans for Prosperity, Pro Publica]
• [https://projects.propublica.org/nonprofits/organizations/521527294 Tax information on Americans for Prosperity Foundation, Pro Publica]
• [https://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/25/us/politics/paul-and-wealthy-libertarians-connect-as-he-weighs-running.html Nicholas Confessore, "Rand Paul and Wealthy Libertarians Connect as He Weighs Running," The New York Times, April 24, 2014 (profile article on Frayda Levin)]
• {{Cite episode|title=Climate of Doubt|series=Frontline|series-link=Frontline (American TV program)|network=PBS|station=WGBH|date=October 23, 2012|season=30|number=22|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/documentary/climate-of-doubt/|access-date=April 26, 2025}}
• {{cite episode|title=The Power of Big Oil|title-link=The Power of Big Oil|series=FRONTLINE|series-link=Frontline (American TV program)|network=PBS|station=WGBH|season=40|number=10–12|url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/the-power-of-big-oil/|access-date=July 8, 2022}}
• {{Ballotpedia}}

{{Koch family}}

{{State Policy Network}}

{{Tea Party movement}}

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Category:501(c)(4) nonprofit organizations

Category:Conservative political advocacy groups in the United States

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Category:Tea Party movement