Rick Koch was the first political candidate of the 2026 election season to visit the Kingfisher Times & Free Press office last week.

Koch is president of ASAP Energy, Inc., a retail, hospitality, marketing, fuel transportation and petroleum products company based in Weatherford.

He told the KT&FP he was a Trump Republican who would take a business approach to growing western Oklahoma’s economy.

Koch is a supporter of Kingfisher State Senator Darcy Jech, who will be term limiting out of his District 26 seat next year.

Koch told the KT&FP that he would be “pro-business, pro-family and America- first” in his approach if elected.

“If elected, I’ll take a business approach to the job and will always be looking for economic opportunities for western Oklahomans,” he said.

“That’s what I do. I do it now. We need to grow our business economy in western Oklahoma.”

Koch is a lifelong western Oklahoma resident and was the founder of ASAP Energy and his various companies employee over 350 Oklahomans.

He invited anyone wish-ing to become involved in his campaign or with any questions to contact him at www.RickKoch.com.