Amarillo Pioneer: Four Texas Libertarian candidates set records in statewide races

Mark Tippetts standing on verdant front grounds of Texas capitol building on sunny day, wearing dark suit white shirt maroon tie smiling at viewer (color photo)

Mark Tippetts, the 2018 Libertarian candidate for governor of Texas, visits the state capitol.

Libertarian Mark Tippetts was excluded from the Texas gubernatorial debate this election, but that did not stop a record-breaking number of his fellow Texans from choosing him for the state’s highest executive office.

The Amarillo Pioneer reported on Tippetts and the three other Texas Libertarian candidates who share the distinction of having garnered unprecedented vote totals as Libertarians in their respective races. From the Nov. 8 coverage, “Tippetts sets Libertarian vote record in governor race,” by Thomas Warren:

Mark Tippetts now has a distinction among those from the Libertarian Party who have sought the Governor’s Mansion – he earned more votes than any other nominee from the party in history.

On Tuesday night [Nov. 6], Tippetts won 140,015 votes, making for the largest vote total for a Libertarian candidate for Texas governor in history. While Tippetts won around 2 percent of the vote, the number marks a significant move forward for Libertarian voters in Texas.

Tippetts was not the only record setter among Libertarians Tuesday. Court of Criminal Appeals candidate Mark Ash set the record for largest vote total ever received for a Texas Libertarian, earning 1.6 million votes. Richard Carpenter and Matt Pina also set records for best vote totals for Libertarians in their respective statewide races.

With Ash’s showing, Libertarians also earned ballot access [in Texas] through 2020.

For information on the Libertarian Party, please visit www.lptexas.org.

As this blog entry is being posted, Carpenter has garnered 190,841 votes for agriculture commissioner, and Piña has garnered 257,779 votes for land commissioner, each running in a three-way race against an incumbent. Tippetts’s updated count is being reported as 140,125 votes (in another three-way race with an incumbent), and Mark Ash’s as 1,609,716 votes, or 25.29 percent, in his two-way race.


Learn more about Tippetts for governor of Texas.

Learn more about Mark Ash for judge of the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.

Learn more about Richard Carpenter for Agriculture Commissioner.

Learn more about Matt Piña for land commissioner.