Libertarian Party of Virginia

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Libertarian Party of Virginia
Founded 1971
Ideology Libertarianism
Classical liberalism
Political freedom
Liberal democracy
Minarchism
Non-interventionism
Voluntaryism
National affiliation Libertarian Party (United States)
Colors a shade of Blue; Gold
Website
www.lpva.com

Founded in 1971, the Libertarian Party of Virginia (LPVA) is the Virginia affiliate of the United States Libertarian Party. The current party Chairman is Bill Redpath.

Leadership

The Libertarian Party of Virginia's current Chairman is Bo Brown. The immediate past chairman was Bill Redpath, and the chairman before that was Chuck Moulton.[1] The longtime secretary of the party is Marc Montoni and the longtime treasurer is James Curtis.

Ballot laws

Ballot access laws

Virginia has one of the most restrictive ballot access laws in the United States.[2][3] According to the Code of Virginia subsection 24.2-101, without "major party" status for automatic ballot access in Virginia, the LPVA has had to gather petition signatures to get on the ballot. The requirement for statewide elections is 10,000 signatures, including at least 400 from each of Virginia's 11 congressional districts.[4] In order for the Party to gain automatic ballot access as a major party, one of its nominated candidates must receive 10% of the vote in a statewide race.[5] To obtain the signatures necessary to receive statewide ballot access in Virginia, it has been quoted to cost between $45,000 to $90,000.[6] Should the LPVA meet the ten percent threshold, career journalist James Bacon noted: "Sparing the Libertarian Party the expense of petitioning to get its candidates on the ballot would allow it to husband its resources to help candidates campaign... That would be huge."[7]

According to Code of Virginia § 24.2-543, a petition to put a third-party or independent candidate on the ballot for U.S. President "shall be signed by at least 5,000 qualified voters and include signatures of at least 200 qualified voters from each congressional district."[8] This is a significantly easier requirement to meet than that for putting a candidate on the ballot for other statewide offices such as U.S. Senator, but as of May 2016, it nonetheless appeared likely that the LPVA would fail to gather enough signatures to put a Libertarian on the ballot for President.

Ballot access litigation

From time to time, the Libertarian Party of Virginia has taken legal action over Virginia's ballot access laws.[5][9][10]

Libertarian Party of Virginia vs. Judd

In 2013, the ACLU supported the Libertarian Party of Virginia, and contended that the Libertarians would suffer "irreparable harm" given Virginia's ballot access laws.[5]

In Libertarian Party of Virginia vs. Judd, the LPVA won the case regarding state residency requirements for petition circulators per the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit on May 29, 2013. It was the first time a minor party had won a constitutional election law case in the Fourth Circuit since 1989 and 1988.[11][12] In response to the Fourth Circuit's ruling, the State of Virginia via former Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli[13] as well as several other states, like Oklahoma,[14] submitted petitions to the Supreme Court of the United States asking to reverse the Fourth Circuit's decision.[15] On December 2, 2013, the petitions against the Fourth Circuit's ruling were denied by the Supreme Court, and so the Libertarian Party of Virginia won the case regarding state residency requirements for petition circulators.[5][16]

Sarvis vs. Judd

In July 2014, The Rutherford Institute supported the Libertarian Party of Virginia and alleged Virginia ballot laws favored "the election chances of Democrat and Republican candidates at the expense of Libertarian Party and independent candidates."[17]

In Robert C. Sarvis, et al. v. Charles E. Judd, et al, the lawsuit was filed on behalf of the Libertarian Party of Virginia, several Libertarian Party candidates and an independent (non-party) candidate for public office in the November 2014 general election. The lawsuit challenged the Virginia State Board of Elections and the laws which require minor-party candidates to gather signatures on petitions to achieve ballot access as well as the laws which require minor-party and independent candidates' names to be placed below those of major-party candidates on the ballot.[18][19]

Notable Libertarians from Virginia

Office holders

The LPVA has and has had members elected and appointed to varying positions of government. These have included positions for: town councils; soil and water conservation committees; budget advisory committees; community leadership institutes; buildings, roads and grounds committees; and school boards.[20]

  • Tyler Brown, Elected to the Occoquan Town Council[21][22]
  • Paul Gagnon, Appointed Chairman for the Lee District (Fairfax County) Land Use and Transportation Advisory Committee[20][23]
  • Jonathan McGlumphy, Appointed to the Blacksburg Greenway/Bikeway/Sidewalk Corridor Advisory Committee[20][24][25]

Other notable libertarians

Elections

2015 state elections

House of Delegates

Four candidates ran for various seats in the Virginia House of Delegates. Will Hammer earned 23.93% in the 20th district. Mark Anderson had 3.61% in the 33rd district. Andy Bakker garnered 4.49% in the 46th district, and Brian Suojanen obtained 2.09% in the 87th district. In total, there were nearly 5,000 votes cast for Libertarian candidates running for the Virginia House of Delegates.[26]

Senate of Virginia

Carl Loser ran for the Senate of Virginia in the 10th district. Loser had 0.95% of the vote, or 527 votes.[26]

2014 midterm elections

U.S. Senate

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Main article: United States Senate election in Virginia, 2014
United States Senate election in Virginia, 2014[27]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic Mark Warner (inc.) 1,073,565 49.15% -15.88%
Republican Ed Gillespie 1,055,894 48.34% +14.62%
Libertarian Robert Sarvis 53,098 2.43% +1.87%
Write-ins 1,769 0.08%
Plurality 17,671 0.81% -30.49%
Turnout 2,184,326
Democratic hold Swing
U.S. House of Representatives

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Main article: United States House of Representatives elections in Virginia, 2014

Candidates for the U.S. House:[28]

1st District: Xavian Draper[29] 2nd District: Allen Knapp[30] 3rd District: Justin Upshaw[31] 4th District: Bo Brown 5th District: Paul Jones[32] 6th District: Will Hammer[33] 7th District: James Carr 8th District: Jeffrey Carson[34] 9th District: Matthew Edwards[35] 10th District: Bill Redpath[36] 11th District: Marc Harrold[37]

For the first time in its history, the Libertarian Party of Virginia had a full slate of candidates for the U.S. Congress in Virginia. Collectively, the candidates submitted well over 30,000 signatures by the June 10th deadline. This would have been the first time any party other than the Democratic and Republican Parties ran a full slate for U.S. House in Virginia since 1916; however, Xavian Draper, Allen Knapp, Justin Upshaw, and Matthew Edwards did not submit enough valid signatures to qualify for a position on the ballot.[32][38][39][40]

Therefore, seven candidates ran for various seats in Congress. Bo Brown earned 2.21% in the 4th district. Paul Jones had 2.1% in the 5th district. Will Hammer garnered 12.33% in the 6th district. James Carr obtained 2.09% in the 7th district. Jeffrey Carson received 2.17% in the 8th district. Bill Redpath had 1.52% in the 10th district, and Marc Harrold earned 1.74% in the 11th district. In total, there were over 47,000 votes cast for Libertarian candidates running for Congress in 2014.

United States House of Representatives elections in Virginia, 2014[27]
Party Votes Percentage Seats Before Seats After +/–
Republican 1,143,692 53.56% 8 8 0
Democratic 845,845 39.61% 3 3 0
Libertarian 47,037 2.20% 0 0 -
Independent Greens 30,661 1.44% 0 0 -
Green 1,739 0.08% 0 0 -
Independents/Write-In 66,190 3.10% 0 0 -
Totals 2,135,164 100.00% 11 11 —

2013 state elections

House of Delegates

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Main article: Virginia elections, 2013

Six candidates ran for various seats in the Virginia House of Delegates. Jonathan Parrish earned 22.34% in the 23rd district. Patrick Hagerty obtained 3.4% in the 33rd district. Laura Delhomme garnered 22.85% of the vote in 47th district. Anthony Tellez had 4.18% for the 53rd district. Christopher Sullivan received 5.56% in the 55th district, and Dan Foster obtained 3.69% in the 78th district. In total, there were over 15,000 votes cast for Libertarian candidates running for the Virginia House of Delegates in 2013.[41]

Gubernatorial

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Main article: Virginia gubernatorial election, 2013

Robert Sarvis was nominated as the Libertarian candidate for Governor.[36] As the Libertarian Party gubernatorial nominee, he became the fourth minor party nominee in forty years to get on the Virginia ballot.[42][43] On election day, Sarvis obtained 146,084 votes, or approximately 6.5% of the total vote cast, a number nearly three times the size of McAuliffe's victory margin over Cuccinelli and nearly five times better than Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson from the year before.[44][45] Sarvis' performance was the best performance among any Libertarian running for Governor of Virginia, among the top three strongest among any Libertarian candidate running in a state gubernatorial election, and the best performance for a third party gubernatorial candidate in the U.S. South in nearly 40 years.[46][47]

Virginia gubernatorial election, 2013[48]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic Terry McAuliffe 1,069,859 47.75% +6.49%
Republican Ken Cuccinelli 1,013,355 45.23% −13.38%
Libertarian Robert Sarvis 146,084 6.52% +6.52%
Write-ins 11,091 0.50%
Plurality 56,504 2.52% −14.86%
Turnout 2,240,379 100.00%
Democratic gain from Republican Swing

2012 presidential election

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Main article: United States presidential election in Virginia, 2012

Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson's campaign gathered enough signatures to be on the November 2012 general election ballot, and he received over 30,000 votes or approximately 0.8% of the vote.[49]

United States presidential election in Virginia, 2012
Party Candidate Running mate Votes Percentage Electoral votes
Democratic Barack Obama (inc.) Joe Biden 1,971,820 51.16% 13
Republican Mitt Romney Paul Ryan 1,822,522 47.28% 0
Libertarian Gary Johnson Jim Gray 31,216 0.81% 0
Constitution Virgil Goode Jim Clymer 13,058 0.34% 0
Green Jill Stein Cheri Honkala 8,627 0.22% 0
Write-ins Write-ins 7,246 0.19% 0
Totals 3,854,489 100.00% 13

2010 midterm elections

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Main article: United States House of Representatives elections in Virginia, 2010

Libertarian candidates appeared on the ballot in four U.S. House of Representatives elections in Virginia: James Quigley (3rd District), Stuart Bain (6th District), Bill Redpath (10th District), and David Dotson (11th District). Party candidates received a combined total of 23,681 votes (1.1%) statewide. (15,309 of those votes were from Bain, who received 9.2% in his district because there was no Democratic candidate running against Republican incumbent Bob Goodlatte.[50])

United States House of Representatives elections in Virginia, 2010[51]
Party Votes Percentage Seats Before Seats After +/–
Republican 1,186,098 54.1% 5 8 +3
Democratic 911,116 41.6% 6 3 -3
Independents 42,002 1.91% 0 0 0
Libertarian 23,681 1.08% 0 0 0
Independent Greens 21,374 0.97% 0 0 0
Write-In 5,570 0.25% 0 0 0
Totals 2,189,841 100.00% 11 11 —

2008 elections

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Main articles: United States presidential election in Virginia, 2008; United States Senate election in Virginia, 2008; and Virginia's 1st congressional district election, 2008

In the 2008 presidential election, the Libertarian nominee was Bob Barr, who gathered the requisite signatures to appear on the ballot in the general election. Barr received 0.3% of the vote in Virginia.[52] Bill Redpath was the party nominee for U.S. Senate, and he appeared on the ballot receiving 0.56% of the vote.[53] In the 1st congressional district, Libertarian nominee Nathan Larson appeared on the ballot and received 1.5% of the vote.[54]

United States presidential election in Virginia, 2008[55]
Party Candidate Running mate Votes Percentage Electoral votes
Democratic Barack Obama Joe Biden 1,959,532 52.63% 13
Republican John McCain Sarah Palin 1,725,005 46.33% 0
Independent Ralph Nader Matt Gonzalez 11,483 0.31% 0
Libertarian Bob Barr Wayne Allyn Root 11,067 0.30% 0
Constitution Chuck Baldwin Darrell Castle 7,474 0.20% 0
Green Cynthia McKinney Rosa Clemente 2,344 0.06% 0
Write-ins Write-ins 6,355 0.17% 0
Totals 3,723,260 100.00% 13
Voter turnout (Voting age population) 65.1%

2006 midterm elections

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Main article: United States House of Representatives elections in Virginia, 2006

Wilbur N. Wood III appeared on the ballot in Virginia's 10th congressional district receiving 0.9% of the vote.[56]

Virginia's 10th congressional district election, 2006
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Frank Wolf (inc.) 138,213 57.32
Democratic Judy Feder 98,769 40.96
Libertarian Wilbur N. Wood III 2,107 0.87
Independent Neeraj C. Nigam 1,851 0.77
Write-ins 194 0.08
Total votes 241,134 100.00
Republican hold

2004 presidential election

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Main article: United States presidential election in Virginia, 2004

In the 2004 presidential election, the Libertarian nominee was Michael Badnarik, who gathered the requisite signatures to appear on the ballot in the general election. Badnarik received 0.35% of the vote in Virginia.

United States presidential election in Virginia, 2004[57]
Party Candidate Running mate Votes Percentage Electoral votes
Republican George W. Bush (inc.) Dick Cheney 1,716,959 53.73% 13
Democratic John Kerry John Edwards 1,454,742 45.53% 0
Libertarian Michael Badnarik Richard Campagna 11,032 0.35% 0
Constitution Michael Peroutka Chuck Baldwin 10,161 0.32% 0
Independent (Write-in) Ralph Nader (Write-in) Peter Camejo 2,393 0.07% 0
Green (Write-in) David Cobb (Write-in) Pat LaMarche 104 <0.01% 0
Write-ins - 24 <0.01% 0
Totals 3,195,415 100.00% 13
Voter turnout (Voting age population) 57.2% —

2001 gubernatorial election

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Main article: Virginia gubernatorial election, 2001

Bill Redpath ran for Governor against Mark Warner (D) and Mark Earley (R) receiving 0.8% of the vote.[58] Gary Reams ran for Lieutenant Governor.[59]

Virginia gubernatorial election, 2001[58]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic Mark Warner 984,177 52.16% +9.60%
Republican Mark Earley 887,234 47.03% -8.79%
Libertarian Bill Redpath 14,497 0.77%
Write-ins 813 0.04%
Majority 96,943 5.14% -8.11%
Turnout 1,886,721
Democratic gain from Republican Swing

2000 presidential election

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Main article: United States presidential election in Virginia, 2000

In the 2000 presidential election, the Libertarian nominee was Harry Browne, who gathered the requisite signatures to appear on the ballot in the general election. Browne received 0.55% of the vote in Virginia.

United States presidential election in Virginia, 2000[60]
Party Candidate Running mate Votes Percentage Electoral votes
Republican George W. Bush Dick Cheney 1,437,490 52.47% 13
Democratic Al Gore Joe Lieberman 1,217,290 44.44% 0
Green Ralph Nader Winona LaDuke 59,398 2.17% 0
Libertarian Harry Browne Art Olivier 15,198 0.55% 0
Reform Pat Buchanan Ezola Foster 5,455 0.20% 0
Constitution Howard Phillips Curtis Frazier 1,809 0.07% 0
Write-ins Write-ins - 2,807 0.10% 0
Totals 2,739,447 100.00% 13
Voter turnout —

See also

References

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External links

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