DavidKoch and wife Julia led a line of billionaires, including Hilary and Wilbur Ross and Richard LeFrak, to Lincoln Center for the premiere of composer Karen LeFrak’s new piece “Being Natasha” — and much of the talk was about which Republican candidate influential brothers David and Charles Koch would back for president in 2016.
Over dinner at the Youth America Grand Prix gala that followed the ballet performances on Thursday, David Koch told other guests, “I haven’t made an announcement yet. I haven’t decided who I’m going to support. . . There are at least 10 candidates who want the job and my support.”
He continued, “I do think there’s a 50-50 chance that the Republicans can take back the Senate.” Adding, “I believe that ObamaCare could eventually bankrupt the country.”
A source close to Koch, who is said to have pledged or contributed more than $750 million to cancer research and treatment, told us, “In his circles, he certainly meets with various candidates but has not spoken directly about support with any of them. David’s mission in life is finding a cure for cancer. . . . He is passionate about his medical philanthropy and his fierce opposition to ObamaCare is based on medical choice.”
Last August a host of Republican 2016 hopefuls attended Florida’s Defending the American Dream Summit, of which David Koch is chairman. Attendees included Sens. Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, Texas Gov. Rick Perry and Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal.
Leading the applause for Karen LeFrak’s new musical piece, which played to a performance by American Ballet Theater dancers Sarah Lane and Skylar Brandt, were Larissa Saveliev, founder of the YAGP which is an international student ballet competition and network, Blaine Trump, Vogue’s Amy Fine Collins, Daisy Soros, star ballerina Misty Copeland, Ballet Next’s Charles Askegard and Ralph Rucci, who designed the costumes for “Being Natasha.”