Libertarian National Committee (LNC) chair Angela McArdle abruptly resigned her office in January, during an LNC email vote on investigating misconduct allegations against her. At the LNC's next meeting Stephen Nekhalia was elected chair, defeating Mises Caucus founder and leader Michael Heise.
Libertarian Party Gets New National Chair After Angela McArdle's Surprise Resignation | Reason | Brian Doherty
February 4, 2025 - "Riding a wave of accolades for her role in convincing Donald Trump to fully pardon Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht, Angela McArdle made a surprise announcement late on January 24 that she was resigning ... as chair of the Libertarian Party's National Committee (LNC). McArdle released a farewell video a couple of days before a Sunday night LNC board meeting via Zoom that selected her replacement in which she stressed Ulbricht's release from prison as the 'biggest political victory' the party has ever achieved. She also accused George Phillies, a past L.P. candidate for office from Massachusetts and operator of Third Party Watch, of being a federal operative.... She hinted without directly stating that she left the L.P. to work for the federal government in Robert Kennedy's Department of Health and Human Services....
"Kennedy certainly owes her; under her leadership the L.P. formed a joint fundraising agreement with his campaign, thus helping a candidate opposed to the L.P. raise money (while also keeping a portion of it for the L.P., and indeed the money flowing from McArdle's decision to ally with Kennedy seems to be keeping the L.P. from running out of money entirely.) Organizations she controls outside the L.P. in turn have received over $750,000 in 2024. The vast bulk went to her nonprofit Rescue the West, some from the Kennedy Joint Fundraising Committee itself and more from other PACs and operations associated with Kennedy's campaign.... This information was first reported in December by Jake Porter, a former L.P. candidate for governor of Iowa....
"The LNC at Sunday night's meeting created an investigatory committee to, in its language as voted on, 'investigate issues of conflict of interest and business practices of the Libertarian National Committee.' A live email ballot was in progress regarding forming such a committee that specifically referred to 'allegations of misconduct' against McArdle, with votes already cast indicating it would be created, when McArdle suddenly resigned....
"Looming over the proceedings was the allegation that McArdle was funneling party money to her own household, furthered by investigative work from Porter on his Substack. On January 21, he reported that under McArdle's leadership the LNC has paid over $45,000 since last February to a company called Freedom Calls for fundraising services. Porter discovered that McArdle's domestic partner and father of her child, Austin Padgett, was the incorporator of record for that entity.... The LNC had previously decided to suspend a series of monthly payments directly to Padgett in January 2024. The payments to Freedom Calls began the following month....
"In response to written questions from Reason about Porter's accusations regarding LNC payments to Freedom Calls, McArdle wrote: 'The LNC is reacting as best they can in the face of constant attacks by unstable litigants like Caryn Ann Harlos, and my cyber stalkers Todd Hagopian and Jake Porter. I have retained an attorney to deal with the aggressive cyberstalking by these men. I will be working with new appointees in the Trump administration to find out if the FBI and State Dept have been involved in the attacks on the LP and me.'.... Harlos is the LNC's elected secretary, who had filed a lawsuit in October seeking McArdle's removal, as reported by Reason. Hagopian is former elected treasurer of the LNC who had filed an amicus brief supporting Harlos' suit....
"The L.P.'s national board has in the past week faced an email campaign sponsored by the Mises Caucus (which has largely controlled the party since 2022) pushing for its founder Michael Heise.... McArdle firmly endorsed Heise as her successor, stressing he was the one prepared to continue her fruitful personal relationships with the Trump administration. Nonetheless, in the Zoom meeting of the LNC Sunday night, Heise lost in a 9–6 vote to Steven Nekhaila, who had been an at-large member of the LNC and threw his hat in the ring very late in the process....
"In the contentious questioning process from LNC members during the meeting before the chair vote he lost, Heise said, in defense of wanting to lead a third party after he endorsed and supported [Donald Trump for POTUS], that blind demands for partisanship on the part of the L.P. were insulting to would-be donors and harm outreach to potential major party converts. Heise also firmly insisted the LNC should not care about, and not seek the identities of, the unnamed donors he announced would pay him directly if he took the formally unpaid position of LNC chair....
"Nekhaila was not always a consistent party-line Mises Caucus voter, but he was part of their endorsed LNC slate at the convention in 2024. His win over Heise signifies a crack, if not a collapse, in the Mises Caucus hold on the party at the national level. Six LNC members endorsed by the Caucus in May did not vote for its founder and leader Heise Sunday night."
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