Christopher Aldana to Attend Cato Institute Energy Policy Event Ahead of America 250 Book Release

Aldana’s stewardship journey continues through national and Virginia energy policy events focused on affordability, rural communities, and civic responsibility.

Christopher Aldana, author of From Church Pew to City Hall: A Journey to Stewardship, will attend the Cato Institute in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, May 13, 2026, for How America Can Unleash the Next Energy Revolution: A Fireside Chat with Secretary Chris Wright. The event will take place from 2 to 3 p.m. EDT at the Cato Institute, 1000 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Washington, D.C., with a reception to follow. The event will feature U.S. Secretary of Energy Chris Wright and Travis Fisher, Cato’s Director of Energy and Environmental Policy Studies.

The event comes just two days before the May 15 release of Aldana’s forthcoming America 250 book, From Church Pew to City Hall: A Journey to Stewardship. The book continues Daniel Mercer’s journey from testimony and personal restoration toward public responsibility, civic trust, and faithful stewardship. For Aldana, attending Cato’s energy policy forum is part of the same real-world stewardship journey that shapes the book’s message.

That journey will continue after the book’s release. On Saturday, May 16, Aldana will attend a Day of Action for energy policy with Americans for Prosperity Virginia’s Skyline District. On Tuesday, May 26, he will also attend a Power Up Virginia Forum with Delegate Tony Wilt, who represents Virginia’s 34th House District. Delegate Wilt’s public materials identify his work as representing citizens in Harrisonburg and Rockingham, and AFP Virginia has recognized Wilt’s work on energy policy, innovation, growth, taxes, and responsible spending.

For Aldana, energy policy is not merely a technical issue. It is a household issue, a rural issue, and a stewardship issue. Across Virginia, rising costs continue to place pressure on families, small businesses, farms, churches, and working communities. Americans for Prosperity Virginia describes its energy work as an “all of the above” approach aimed at increasing production and lowering energy costs for families in the Commonwealth.

“Energy policy is not abstract when families are trying to pay the bill,” Aldana said. “For rural America, energy affordability touches the home, the farm, the small business, the church, and the ability of communities to remain strong. Stewardship means paying attention before people are priced out of opportunity.”

The Cato Institute’s vision is “a free and open society” where liberty allows each person to pursue prosperity and meaning in peace. Cato’s work is grounded in principles of individual liberty, limited government, free markets, and peace. Aldana sees those principles as connected to his own developing political stewardship, particularly through the influence of Charles and David Koch, the Cato Institute, and Americans for Prosperity.

Cato’s own historical timeline identifies Edward H. Crane and Charles G. Koch as founders of the Institute in January 1977. Britannica identifies Americans for Prosperity Foundation as originally connected to Citizens for a Sound Economy, cofounded by David Koch in 1984. Americans for Prosperity describes itself as a community of citizens advocating for solutions rooted in freedom and opportunity, with a mission of empowering Americans to achieve their own version of the American Dream.

“The Koch brothers’ policy legacy has helped me understand that stewardship in politics requires more than opinion,” Aldana said. “It requires structure, education, grassroots action, market-based thinking, and the courage to hold government accountable while trusting citizens, families, entrepreneurs, and communities.”

The timing is especially meaningful as Aldana prepares to release From Church Pew to City Hall during the America 250 season. The book’s central claim is that restoration should mature into responsibility. A restored life is not the end of the journey. It is the beginning of stewardship.

“America 250 should not only be about remembering the founding,” Aldana said. “It should be about asking what kind of citizens we are becoming. If we inherit liberty, we must steward it. That includes energy, affordability, rural opportunity, public accountability, and the future we are building for the next generation.”