by Peter B. Gemma
Darcy Richardson, well known to IPR readers as a political and campaign historian via his many books, has a lifetime record as a candidate — running on third party lines. He was the Consumer Party nominee for US Senate in Pennsylvania in 1988 while serving as the national campaign manager of former Senator Eugene McCarthy’s presidential campaign. In 2010, he ran for Lt. Governor in Florida on an independent ticket. Last year he made a bid for the Reform Party presidential nomination (this writer interviewed Richardson regarding that race here.)
Richardson is running on the NPA line (No Party Affiliation) for the Florida House District 14 in Jacksonville. Incumbent Rep. Kimberly Daniels is running for a second term, and no Republican has filed for the seat.
Ms. Daniels is the founder of Spoken Word Ministries, Kimberly Daniels Ministries International, and Word Bible College. In February 2017, on her Facebook page, she recorded prayers on behalf of Donald Trump:
God, I command every witch and every warlock that would try to send confusion to this nation, confusion to this government, confusion to this great man, what blood was shed for religious liberty, God, in the name of Jesus, not by power and not by [unintelligible], but by your spirit, I say they will be fired…
According to the political news site Tallahassee Reports, Rep. Daniels has crossed party lines and supported GOP proposals 64.8 percent of the time.
In an interview with Florida Politics, Richardson assessed his opponent as a “disgrace, not only to 
Jacksonville, but to the entire state of Florida. She’s a national embarrassment and deserves to be seriously challenged in 2018.”
Because of Richardson’s populist, thought-provoking, and outside-the-box take on a wide variety of issues, support has already come his way from Republicans, liberals, independents, conservatives and Democrats. A GoFundMe campaign has just begun, and an official website page will be launched next week. Checks payable to the Darcy Richardson for House account can also be mailed to 7810 Fox Tail Lane, Jacksonville, FL 32219.
Darcy Richardson is the author of a dozen books including, A Nation Divided: The 1968 Presidential Campaign (2002), Battling the Duopoly: A Short History of the Reform Party’s Struggle to Save America’s Middle Class (2016), and a multi-volume series on independent and third-party politics in the United States. His latest book, published last year, is a biography of Senator Bernie Sanders: Bernie: A Lifelong Crusade Against Wall Street and Wealth.
This could be the year constitutes finally achieve victory for their voices. Seldom a Candidate surfaces who intentions and motivation for seeking public office are driven for the betterment of the public good. Darcy G. Richardson is just that Candidate.
Chuck,
I believe the website is http://www.richardson2018.com
What everyone else (so far) said.
Good luck! I hope someone will post the website link in the comments here (once he makes one).
Best of luck to Darcy–
I command every witch and warlock to support Darcy.
A two candidate election certainly sounds interesting.
My thoughts and prayers go out to voters in Florida House District 14.
Go, Darcy! I will be a (probably small) campaign donor.
I do not always agree with Darcy on the issues, but he damn well thinks about them and knows their histories before he speaks to them.
On the civil liberties questions he leans very libertarian (foreign policy, too, but this is a state legislative race, so unless Florida secedes that isn’t an important issues set).
Economic issues is where we tend to disagree, but with his background in finance he seems to look at things very pragmatically, with an eye toward what might actually work vis a vis leveling the institutional playing field in a capitalist system, instead of just toward sloganeering, more so than most “social democrats.”
Also, his incumbent opponent seems on cursory examination to be well beyond merely crazy.
I know that Darcy has attended a Libertarian Party meeting or two in the Jax area (because I’ve been to one with him). LP affiliates can’t go around endorsing candidates of other parties, but I hope the LP organizations in the area will give him a respectful hearing, perhaps by way of holding an all-party candidate forum for seats that don’t include only ones in which the LP has a horse.