Libertarian Senatorial candidates set vote records

Joe Miller Shatters Libertarian US Senate Record While 8 Others Set New State Party Marks | Smart Politics - Eric Ostermaier:

November 20, 2016 - "The nation’s third largest political party notched by far its most successful election cycle in races to the nation’s upper legislative chamber....

"Alaska’s Joe Miller ... was an 11th hour recruit by the Libertarian Party in September 2016 and his brief, two-month campaign won him an impressive 29.4 percent of the vote in the general election.... Miller not only far exceeded his polling numbers (which usually had him in the mid- to high teens), but he demolished his party’s mark for its all-time best showing in a race for the office....

"Party records were also set in:

• Arkansas, Frank Gilbert (3.98 percent): Gilbert nearly doubled the 2.03 percent won by Nathan LaFrance in 2014. Gilbert and LaFrance are the only two U.S. Senate candidates to get on the general election ballot in the state under the Libertarian Party banner. 
• Colorado, Lily Williams (3.61 percent): Williams, the seventh U.S. Senate nominee for the party in state history, eclipsed Gaylon Kent’s 2.59 percent record from 2014 by just over a point. 
• Florida, Paul Stanton (2.12 percent): Stanton more than quadrupled the support received by the party’s only other nominee for the office in state history – Alexander Snitker in 2010 (0.46 percent). 
• Georgia, Allen Buckley (4.16 percent): Buckley broke a 20-year record held by 1996 nominee Jack Cashin (3.60 percent). Libertarians have fielded U.S. Senate nominees in 10 elections in the Peach State since its first nominee in 1992. 
• Iowa, Chuck Aldrich (2.71 percent): Aldrich, the seventh nominee fielded by the party for the office, broke 2010 nominee John Heiderscheit’s record (2.27 percent)....
• North Dakota, Robert Marquette (3.08 percent): Marquette almost doubled the party’s previous best showing in the state in a U.S. Senate race – Keith Hanson’s 1.63 percent in 2010. 
• Oklahoma, Robert Murphy (3.00 percent): Murphy – the first nominee to gain ballot access under the Libertarian banner in 20 years for the office – crushed the party’s previous best mark of 1.23 percent set in 1996 by Agnes Reiger. 
• Wisconsin, Phil Anderson (2.96 percent): Anderson bested Joseph Kexel’s 2012 campaign (2.07 percent) by nearly a full point. None of the other seven U.S. Senate Libertarian nominees in the Badger State over the decades had reached one percent.... 

"An additional six other 2016 nominees turned in the second best Libertarian U.S. Senate performance in their respective states: Robert Garrard in Kansas (5.52 percent), Edward Clifford in Pennsylvania (3.84 percent), Sean Haugh in North Carolina (3.56 percent, 0.18 points shy of his own record), Kent McMillan in Illinois (3.22 percent), Richard Lion in Connecticut (1.14 percent), and Alex Merced in New York (0.65 percent).

 "Libertarian U.S. Senate candidates outperformed their party’s presidential nominee, Gary Johnson, in seven states: Alaska, Arkansas, Kansas, Indiana, Georgia, North Carolina, and Pennsylvania. "

Read more: http://editions.lib.umn.edu/smartpolitics/2016/11/20/joe-miller-shatters-libertarian-us-senate-record-while-8-others-set-new-state-party-marks/
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Court to hear FEC Debates challenge - in 2017

Libertarian Debate News: L.P. To Get a Day in Court Against Debate Access Restrictions, But Too Late for 2016; Florida Senate Candidate Paul Stanton Excluded from Debate - Hit & Run -  Reason.com - Brian Doherty:

October 6, 2016 - "The Libertarian Party, as I detailed back in May, was involved in two distinct lawsuits that could have resulted in presidential candidate Gary Johnson getting into the presidential debates.

"One of them, Johnson v. Commission on Presidential Debates, .... is now, according to lawyer Bruce Fein in an email today, 'on appeal in the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit. No briefing schedule has yet been issued and thus no oral argument date.'

"A second lawsuit, targeted specifically at the Federal Elections Commission for its alleged failures to properly curb the Commission on Presidential Debates, had been awaiting a decision on motions for summary judgment from both parties for months. Its official name is Level the Playing Field v. FEC.

"Level the Playing Field is a 'nonpartisan, nonprofit corporation not affiliated with any candidate or candidate committee…[whose] purpose is to promote reforms that allow for greater competition and choice in elections for federal office, particularly for the Presidency and Vice Presidency.' The Libertarian Party and Green Party are also plaintiffs in that suit.

"This week, a date was announced for oral arguments on the motions for summary judgment. The catch: they are set for January 7, 2017, too late to affect the debates before the 2016 election....

"The latest motion for summary judgment argues that the CPD has always been a deliberated duopoly for the two major parties and has 'been violating FECA and FEC regulations limiting debate-sponsoring organizations' ability to use corporate funds to finance their activities' since its efforts are not truly 'nonpartisan.' The suit accuses the FEC [of] 'refus[ing] to enforce the law and ignored virtually all of this evidence in conclusorily dismissing the complaints even though there is plainly reason to believe that the CPD is violating FECA'....

"The suit accuses the CPD's 15 percent polling requirement to be admitted to the debate as being effectively 'impossible for an independent candidate who is not a self-funded billionaire to achieve'....

"The motion for summary judgment finally requests that:

The Court should grant summary judgment for Plaintiffs, and direct the FEC to do its job, which is to enforce the law and put an end to the CPD's biased, anti-democratic, and fundamentally corrupt and exclusionary polling rule.

Those arguments will now be made in court in front of Judge Tanya Chutkan, alas too late to matter for 2016 no matter the outcome.

Read more: http://reason.com/blog/2016/10/06/libertarian-debate-news-lp-to-get-a-day
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Paul Stanton wins Florida Libertarian primary

Libertarian Paul Stanton wins big over Augustus Invictus as supporters watch in Tampa Bay - Tampa Dispatch:

August 31, 2016 - "Libertarian voters spoke on Tuesday in an unprecedented party primary in Florida, as Paul Stanton defeated Augustus Invictus and the race was called by Bay News 9 with 92 percent of the state’s voting precincts in.

"As of the time of the election being called by the local affiliate, Stanton held 74 percent of the statewide vote and the voting totals neared 4,000 registered Libertarians....

"'In this historic election we can go from speaking to just Libertarians to spreading Libertarian solutions to all Floridians, our solutions concerning peace, liberty and empowerment,' Stanton said after being declared the winner. 'I’m deeply humbled to be on the same ballot as Governors Gary Johnson and Bill Weld for President and Vice-President.'

"No statewide primary in Florida had ever been held in a Libertarian race. Only Missouri (U.S. Senate) and Alaska (U.S. House seat) also had Libertarian primaries for federal seats.

"The DeLand resident held a watch party in one of the Libertarian hotbeds in Florida — the greater Tampa Bay area. Supporters gathered with Stanton in St. Petersburg and watched as the returns came in."

Read more: http://www.tampadispatch.com/libertarian-paul-stanton-wins-big-augustus-invictus-supporters-watch-tampa-bay-54348/
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