February 15, 2010
Dear Friend of Liberty,
Nationwide, there are 149 Libertarians holding elected public office. 36 of them are partisan offices, and 113 are non-partisan offices. You can view the entire list here.
If you know of an elected Libertarian who is not on this list, please email us at info@lp.org. Please include the words “elected libertarian” in the subject line.
We sometimes use political terms that may not be completely familiar to people who don’t follow politics daily. Partisan elections are those where the candidates appear on the ballot with a party name, such as “Libertarian” or “Republican” or “Democrat,” next to their names. Most races for governor or U.S. Congress, for example, are partisan. On the other hand, many states have non-partisan elections for local offices such as city council or school board, which means, among other things, that the candidates aren’t associated with a political party on the ballot.
Because election laws vary so much from state to state, it’s not always easy to decide who should be on our list of elected Libertarians, particularly when it comes to non-partisan races. Additionally, we give quite a bit of leeway to the state affiliates to decide who is or is not considered an elected Libertarian. In any case, below is an approximation of the criteria used to determine if someone qualifies to appear on the list of elected Libertarians compiled by the National Libertarian Party:
For partisan offices:
a) In the elected official’s most recent election for his or her current office, the party designation that appeared on the ballot with his or her name was “Libertarian”; or b) the elected official is currently registered to vote as a Libertarian.
For non-partisan offices:
The elected official must be a current dues-paying member of the National Libertarian Party.
Again, please let us know if you see that somebody is missing who maybe should be listed. If you have questions or need clarification, let us know.
Perhaps you know of someone who is already elected to a non-partisan office who has Libertarian leanings, and you could convince him or her to join the Libertarian Party.
Many local offices are up for election this coming spring. If you are interested in running for an office, please fill out our candidate form here.
Sincerely,
Wes Benedict
Executive Director
Libertarian National Committee
P.S. If you have not yet become a member of the Libertarian Party and
wish to do so, please click here and join the only political party
dedicated to free markets and civil liberties. If you need to renew,
please click here. If you would like to make a contribution separate
from membership, please click here.
