Several Libertarian campaigns for U.S. House had a high impact this election.
Dan Fishman in the Massachusetts Sixth Congressional District won 16,668 votes, over four times more than the 3,650-vote margin of victory between Republican Richard Tisei (175,953 votes) and Democrat incumbent John Tierney (179,603 votes).
When asked by popular Boston radio host, Howie Carr, whether he feels bad that he may have drained off enough votes to stop the Republican from eliminating the Democrat, Fishman said, "I was not in the race to weaken either candidate. I certainly disagree with how (Democrat Tierney) has voted, but I disagree very strongly with Republicans as well."
"I don’t believe the Republicans have any interest at all in cutting the deficit. I believe that John Boehner cannot wait to make a deal so that they can raise the debt ceiling," he said.
"For me, the number one threat to the country right now is the national debt, and I was the only candidate who committed that I would never vote to raise the national debt," said Dan Fishman.
In other U.S. House races, Jim McDermott of Alaska’s At-large (only) Congressional District received 11,051 votes, or 5%, in a 4-way race, which retained ballot access for the state.
Richard Brubaker of Wyoming’s At-large District won 8,286 votes, or 3.4%, in a 5-way race, retaining ballot access in that state.
Bruce Majors finished second in a 3-way race for Delegate to the U.S. House for Washington D.C. with 13,462 votes, or 5.8%, gaining ballot access for the LP in the district for the first time ever.
The top Libertarian vote percentages in 2-way U.S. House races with a Democrat or Republican candidate were:
Joel Balam | Kansas 3rd | 31% | 90,391 votes |
Randall Lord | Louisiana 4th | 25% | 61,587 votes |
Ben Easton | Texas 17th | 20% | 35,902 votes |
Joe Cobb | Arizona 7th | 19% | 19,346 votes |
Chip Peterson | Texas 19th | 15% | 28,359 votes |
The top Libertarian vote percentages in 3-way U.S. House races with a Democrat and Republican candidate were:
Powell Gammell | Arizona 9th | 6.4% | 13,307 votes |
Ron Williams | Mississippi 4th | 6.4% | 17,262 votes |
Thomas Jefferson | Kansas 4th | 6.2% | 15,587 votes |
Kim Allen | Arizona 1st | 5.9% | 13,347 votes |
Rex Bell | Indiana 6th | 5.8% | 15,946 votes |
Kevin Craig | Missouri 7th | 5.2% | 16,656 votes |
James Stanczak | Texas 29th | 5.2% | 4,988 votes |
Chris Kalla | Ohio 4th | 5.1% | 15,487 votes |
David Kaiser | Montana At-large | 5.0% | 19,062 votes |
The Libertarians who came in second place in U.S. House races with either a Democrat or Republican (but not both) and at least one independent or 3rd party candidate were:
Rufus Craig | Louisiana 6th | 11% | 32,185 votes |
John Robert Deek | Texas 13th | 6% | 12,671 votes |