History of the Libertarian Party (United States)
This article needs to be updated. The reason given is: History since 2016 is missing.(June 2022) |
The
Early history
A press conference announcing the new party was held on January 31, 1972, at the party's headquarters in Westminster, Colorado. The first national convention, attracting 89 delegates from 23 states, was held that June in Denver, Colorado. According to Ron Crickenberger, former Political Director of the LP, a search of LP documents showed that the LP had elected Miguel Gilson-De Lemos in a partisan local board race in New York even before the adoption of its first platform.[citation needed] Several others were also elected or appointed that year. Party leaders initially doubted they would even see six people elected or appointed by 2001, so this led to early optimism among some. However, in subsequent years the number of people in office seemed to be about 1% of its donor base: approximately 30 officeholders with 3,000 donors in 1981; 100 in office and 10,000 donors in 1991; and 600 and 60,000 in 2001.[citation needed]
In 1971, seventy-five percent of members supported running a presidential ticket and sixty percent supported running candidates for lower offices. Members of the party supported giving its presidential nomination to Murray Rothbard, Alan Greenspan, Vivien Kellems, A. Ernest Fitzgerald, Martin Anderson, Phil Crane, Robert A. Heinlein, H. R. Gross, Milton Friedman, Sam Ervin, Henry Manne, or Karl Hess.[2] The party's name was selected by a vote of 111 to 87 in favor.[3] John Hospers won the presidential nomination for the 1972 presidential election against James Bryan and Tonie Nathan defeated Diana Amsden for the vice-presidential nomination.[4]
By the 1972 presidential election, the party had grown to over 80 members and had attained
In 1978, Dick Randolph became the first Libertarian to win state-level office with his election to the Alaska House of Representatives.[citation needed] Two years later, he won another term and Ken Fanning was also elected as a Libertarian to that chamber.
Clark, Crane, Koch, and Paul
In the
The party ran more candidates for seats in the United States House of Representatives than any other minor party since the 1980 elections.[6]
On December 29, 1981, the first widely reported successful election in the continental United States of a Libertarian Party candidate in a partisan race occurred as Richard P. Siano, a
In 1984, the party's presidential nominee, David Bergland, gained access to the ballot in 36 states and earned one-quarter of one percent of the popular vote. In 1987, Doug Anderson became the first Libertarian elected to office in a major city, elected to the Denver Election Commission (later, in 2005, Anderson was elected to the Lakewood, Colorado city council).[9]
In
From Marrou to Browne
In 1992, Andre Marrou, a Libertarian elected to the Alaska state legislature and Ron Paul's running mate in 1988, led the ticket, with attorney Nancy Lord as his vice presidential (VP) running mate. For the first time since the Clark campaign in 1980, the Libertarian Party's presidential ticket made the ballot in all 50 states, DC, and Guam usually as independent candidates without party labelling. In 1994, radio personality Howard Stern embarked on a political campaign for Governor of New York, formally announcing his candidacy under the Libertarian Party ticket. Although he legally qualified for the office and campaigned for a time after his nomination, many viewed the run for office as nothing more than a publicity stunt. He subsequently withdrew his candidacy because he did not want to comply with the financial disclosure requirements for candidates.
Election cycles in the 2000s
In all of these cases, the party's presidential nominee drew in between one third and one half of one percent of the popular vote. In 2000, the Arizona Libertarian Party, which had been disaffiliated from the national organization in late 1999, but which controlled the Libertarian ballot line in that state, nominated science fiction author L. Neil Smith and newspaperman Vin Suprynowicz, rather than Browne and Olivier, as its presidential slate. Smith and Suprynowicz polled 5,775 votes (0.4%) in Arizona.
2004–2007
In the 2004 election cycle, the Libertarian Party's presidential nomination race was the closest to date. Three candidates – gun-rights activist and software engineer
In the November 2006 mid-term election, the median vote percentage for Libertarians who ran for US House (excluding races with only one major party nominee) was 2.0%; while the median percentage for Greens who ran for that office (again excluding races with only one major party nominee) was 1.4%.[11] Over 13,400,000 votes were cast for Libertarian Party candidates in 2006.[12] In the 2007 general elections, Libertarian Party candidates won 14 elective offices, including an election for mayor of Avis, Pennsylvania.[13]
2008
Several candidates sought to become the party's 2008 presidential nominee. Ron Paul, who had been the party's 1988 nominee and was seeking the 2008 Presidential nomination of the Republican Party, was mentioned as a possible nominee as well, but he officially denied any intent to run under a third-party banner. On December 12, 2007, the Party adopted a resolution requesting Paul to run on the Libertarian ticket if he did not win the Republican Party nomination.[14] On March 25, 2008, Mike Gravel changed from the Democratic Party to the Libertarian Party. On May 12, 2008, ten days before the 2008 Libertarian National Convention, Bob Barr, a former employee for then CIA Director George W. Bush and later a Republican U.S. Congressman, announced that he would seek the nomination.[15]
At the time of the
. On May 25, after six ballots, the Libertarian Party chose Barr as their official nominee for president, and Root as his running mate.2009–2012, Tea Party protests
Protests caused by the
2012 Gary Johnson campaign
After initially running for the Republican nomination, former
2016 Gary Johnson campaign
At the
Presidential tickets
1972: John Hospers and Tonie Nathan – 3,674 popular votes (nil%); 1 electoral vote
David Koch – 921,128 popular votes (1.1%)
1984: David Bergland and James A. Lewis – 228,111 popular votes (0.3%) 1988: Ron Paul and Andre Marrou – 431,750 popular votes (0.5%) 1992: Andre Marrou and Nancy Lord – 290,087 popular votes (0.3%) 1996: Harry Browne and Jo Jorgensen – 485,798 popular votes (0.5%) 2000: Harry Browne and Art Olivier – 384,516 popular votes (0.4%) 2004: Michael Badnarik and Richard Campagna – 397,265 popular votes (0.3%) 2008: Bob Barr and Wayne Allyn Root – 523,686 popular votes (0.4%) 2012: Gary Johnson and Jim Gray – 1,275,821 popular votes (1.0%) 2016: Gary Johnson and Bill Weld – 4,488,919 popular votes (3.3%) 2020: Jo Jorgensen and Spike Cohen – 1,865,724 popular votes (1.2%) |
References
- ^ Bill Winter, "1971–2001: The Libertarian Party's 30th Anniversary Year: Remembering the first three decades of America's 'Party of Principle'" LP News
- ^ "Newsletter #1" (PDF). Libertarian Party News. November 30, 1971. p. 1. Archived (PDF) from the original on January 12, 2022.
- ^ ""Libertarian Party" is name choice; Convention to meet in Denver, June 4-7" (PDF). Libertarian Party News. January 31, 1972. p. 1. Archived (PDF) from the original on January 12, 2022.
- ^ "Hospers-Nathan 1972!" (PDF). Libertarian Party News. July 31, 1972. p. 1. Archived (PDF) from the original on January 12, 2022.
- ^ Quitoxic '80 campaign gave birth to Kochs' Powerful Network, The New York Times, May 15, 2014. Accessed April 30, 2021.
- ^ "Which Third Parties Had the Most U.S. House Candidates, 1912–2020". Ballot Access News. May 2, 2021. Archived from the original on January 18, 2022.
- ^ "Siano Ties!" (PDF). New Jersey Libertarian Party. December 1981. Archived from the original on August 20, 2014. Retrieved October 12, 2015.
- ^ "Libertarian victory", Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, December 31, 1981. Accessed November 19, 2019.
- ^ Lakewood City Council page showing Council members. Retrieved November 22, 2006.
- ^ Now for a Real Underdog: Ron Paul, Libertarian, For President. The New York Times October 17, 1988. Retrieved on April 30, 2021
- ^ Richard Winger article comparing the electoral strength of minor-party candidates.
- ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-10-01. Retrieved 2008-10-14.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ Official Website of the Libertarian National Committee
- ^ Libertarians want Paul back Archived 2008-01-20 at the Wayback Machine Libertarian Party resolution as reported by SmallGovTimes.com. 12-12-2007.
- ^ "Barr launches Libertarian White House bid"
- ^ "Official 2020 presidential general election results" (PDF). Federal Election Commission. February 1, 2021. Retrieved February 6, 2021.