Koch was the Libertarian Party's vice-presidential candidate in the 1980 presidential election, sharing the party ticket with presidential candidate Ed Clark.
The Clark–Koch ticket promised to abolish Social Security, the Federal Reserve Board, welfare, minimum-wage laws, corporate taxes, all price supports and subsidies for agriculture and business, and U.S. Federal agencies including the SEC, EPA, ICC, FTC, OSHA, FBI, CIA, and DOE.
The ticket received 921,128 votes, 1% of the total nationwide vote, the Libertarian Party national ticket's best showing until 2016 in terms of percentage and its best showing in terms of raw votes until the 2012 presidential election, although that number was surpassed again in 2016. "
Compared to what [the Libertarians had] gotten before," Charles said, "and where we were as a movement or as a political/ideological point of view, that was pretty remarkable, to get 1 percent of the vote."

After the bid, according to journalist Brian Doherty's Radicals for Capitalism, Koch viewed politicians as "actors playing out a script."

Koch credited the 1976 presidential campaign of Roger MacBride as his inspiration for getting involved in politics:
Here was a great guy, advocating all the things I believed in.
He wanted less government and taxes, and was talking about repealing all these victimless crime laws that accumulated on the books.
I have friends who smoke pot.
I know many homosexuals.
It's ridiculous to treat them as criminals — and here was someone running for president, saying just that.

Koch gave his own vice presidential campaign $100,000 a month after being chosen as Ed Clark's running mate. "
We'd like to abolish the Federal Elections Commission and all the limits on campaign spending anyway," Koch said in 1980.
When asked why he ran, he replied: "Lord knows I didn't need a job, but I believe in what the Libertarians are saying.
I suppose if they hadn't come along, I could have been a big Republican from Wichita.
But hell — everybody from Kansas is a Republican."

In 1984, Koch broke with the Libertarian Party when it supported eliminating all taxes.
Subsequently, Koch was a Republican.
Koch donated  
to various political campaigns, most of which were Republican.
In February 2012, during the Wisconsin gubernatorial recall election, Koch said of Wisconsin governor Scott Walker, "We're helping him, as we should.
We've gotten pretty good at this over the years.
We've spent a lot of money in Wisconsin.
We're going to spend more," and said that by "we" he meant Americans for Prosperity.

In 2012, Koch spent over $100 million in a failed bid to oppose the re-election of President Barack Obama.
Koch was the Libertarian Party's vice-presidential candidate in the 1980 presidential election, sharing the party ticket with presidential candidate Ed Clark. The Clark–Koch ticket promised to abolish Social Security, the Federal Reserve Board, welfare, minimum-wage laws, corporate taxes, all price supports and subsidies for agriculture and business, and U.S. Federal agencies including the SEC, EPA, ICC, FTC, OSHA, FBI, CIA, and DOE. The ticket received 921,128 votes, 1% of the total nationwide vote, the Libertarian Party national ticket's best showing until 2016 in terms of percentage and its best showing in terms of raw votes until the 2012 presidential election, although that number was surpassed again in 2016. "Compared to what [the Libertarians had] gotten before," Charles said, "and where we were as a movement or as a political/ideological point of view, that was pretty remarkable, to get 1 percent of the vote."
After the bid, according to journalist Brian Doherty's Radicals for Capitalism, Koch viewed politicians as "actors playing out a script."
Koch credited the 1976 presidential campaign of Roger MacBride as his inspiration for getting involved in politics:
Here was a great guy, advocating all the things I believed in. He wanted less government and taxes, and was talking about repealing all these victimless crime laws that accumulated on the books. I have friends who smoke pot. I know many homosexuals. It's ridiculous to treat them as criminals — and here was someone running for president, saying just that.
Koch gave his own vice presidential campaign $100,000 a month after being chosen as Ed Clark's running mate. "We'd like to abolish the Federal Elections Commission and all the limits on campaign spending anyway," Koch said in 1980. When asked why he ran, he replied: "Lord knows I didn't need a job, but I believe in what the Libertarians are saying. I suppose if they hadn't come along, I could have been a big Republican from Wichita. But hell — everybody from Kansas is a Republican."
In 1984, Koch broke with the Libertarian Party when it supported eliminating all taxes. Subsequently, Koch was a Republican. Koch donated  
to various political campaigns, most of which were Republican. In February 2012, during the Wisconsin gubernatorial recall election, Koch said of Wisconsin governor Scott Walker, "We're helping him, as we should. We've gotten pretty good at this over the years. We've spent a lot of money in Wisconsin. We're going to spend more," and said that by "we" he meant Americans for Prosperity.
In 2012, Koch spent over $100 million in a failed bid to oppose the re-election of President Barack Obama.
David Koch