Thomas Knapp, Director for the William Lloyd Garrison Center for Libertarian Advocacy Journalism and the former 2008 vice presidential nominee of the Boston Tea Party, has announced that he will run for the presidency in the 2024 election cycle. Knapp is running an independent, “write-in-only” campaign.
In a press release announcing his campaign, Knapp, who is also a long-time libertarian activist and appointed public official, states that he formally left the Libertarian Party last year following a “hostile takeover” by an organization he equates to a “Republican ‘infiltrate and neuter’ PAC,” alluding to the Mises Caucus takeover of the Libertarian Party at the 2022 Libertarian National Convention in Reno.
Knapp now says he aligns with the Forward Party due to its positions on supporting ranked choice voting and a firm stance against the political practice of gerrymandering. However, he acknowledges the new organization likely won’t contest the upcoming presidential election cycle, nor does he wish to use it to further his “personal shenanigans.”
Knapp has briefly broken with the Libertarian Party in the past. In 2006, he refocused his energies on organizing the Boston Tea Party following the events of the Libertarian National Convention in Oregon. The Portland, Oregon, convention, sometimes called the “Portland Massacre” by critical members at the time, saw over 40 planks removed from the party platform by the then-new Reform Caucus. Knapp would organize the Boston Tea Party soon after and serve as its vice presidential nominee the following cycle, joining the ticket with Charles Jay on several ballots and retaining write-in recognition on ten more. He would formally leave the Libertarian Party in 2010 but return four years later to work on the campaign of Adrian Wyllie.
In addition to supporting ranked choice voting and opposing gerrymandering, Knapp also states in his press release that he wishes to use his candidacy to bring greater attention to the write-in process. “Until the two major parties started passing laws to seize control of ballot printing and ‘access’ starting in the late 19th century, ALL ballots were effectively write-in-only,” Knapp writes. “I’d like to see a return to that, both as a way of breaking the Republican and Democratic stranglehold on American politics, and as a way of screening for voters who pay attention.”
“If you can’t remember the names of the candidates you want to vote for well enough to be able to write those names down, should you even be voting in the first place?”
The process for becoming a write-in candidate varies significantly from state to state, with several jurisdictions not allowing voters and candidates alike the opportunity to engage with the electoral process from such a perspective. Areas barring write-in candidacies include Arkansas, Hawaii, Louisiana, Nevada, New Mexico, South Carolina, and South Dakota. Other areas require a write-in campaign to register with the state as a candidate ahead of time. However, the total number of potential electoral votes a write-in candidate could hypothetically receive is still well over the 270-vote threshold needed to win the presidency.
Thomas Knapp lives in Gainesville, Florida. As a Libertarian advocate, he worked on the former presidential campaigns of Steve Kubby, Michael Badnarik, and Aaron Russo. He was also the media coordinator for the Center for a Stateless Society for five years. Knapp is a United State Marine.
Readers can access and read a copy of Thomas Knapp’s full press release at Third Party Watch.
[Editorial note: the article has been updated to reflect that Thomas Knapp did not leave the Libertarian Party in 2006. He remained involved with both the Libertarian Party and Boston Tea Party until he temporarily left in 2010. – JWE]
Rick,
Would that be the same Bill Weld I voted against nominating on every ballot? The same Bill Weld I publicly called on the LNC to rescind the nomination of? That Bill Weld there?
As for “socialists,” the party’s “Socialist Caucus” ran a candidate against Sarwark.
“Everything I don’t like is socialist.” – Rick
I am not voting for Knapp because I don’t support Sarwark or his supporters. Sarwark did too much harm to the LP by bringing in Bill Weld and socialists.
It would just be like an election without TK.
Jim,
All true.
But write-in voting would still be superior to the state putting “ballot access” barriers between voters and candidates to ensure that only one or two of the latter have much chance of winning an election.
And while I wouldn’t advocate an IQ test for voting as such, if someone has allegedly taken the time to research Ms. Jacob-Fambro’s qualifications and positions so as to find her candidacy the most supportable, wouldn’t they also have the intelligence and inclination to learn how to spell her name?
The federal government assumes that active duty members of the uniformed services and Merchant Marine, as well as their eligible spouses/dependents, and US citizens living abroad, are competent to fill out the Federal Write-In Absentee Ballot. Should the rest of us be assumed less competent than those people?
Write in only elections are somewhat OK for people with names like Thomas Knapp, but supporters of Princess Khadijah Maryam Jacob-Fambro might struggle a bit.
And the way many localities count write ins, they have to be perfectly legible and get every single letter of both the first and last names correct. “Knapp”, “Tom Knapp”, “Thomas Knapp”, and “T Knapp” would all be counted separately in some places, as would minor spelling mistakes, like leaving off the second ‘p’.
Thanks, NewFed!
Congrats, Tom! Have fun and tell a good humored story of liberty with a touch of comedy and levity with a lack of animosity and divisiveness. Good for you!
Thanks for running the announcement!
I did not “leave” the Libertarian Party for the Boston Tea Party. In fact, at its organizational convention, I moved a bylaws proposal that it constitute itself as a caucus within the LP (that proposal was defeated).
I remained an LP member, a local and state committee member, and ran for Congress on the LP ballot line in 2008 (while running for vice-president with the BTP).
I DID formally “leave” the LP in 2010, after deciding that I just didn’t want to be involved with electoral politics, at least for a little while. I returned in 2014 after becoming interested in Adrian Wyllie’s campaign for governor of Florida and seeing the party move in a positive direction with the election of Nicholas Sarwark as LNC chair.
These days, I’m just all about having fun. So I shall 😉