The Libertarian Party of Montana recently amended its bylaws, allowing the party to endorse candidates outside of the Libertarian Party if they espouse Libertarian principles. This decision includes races where a Libertarian candidate may already be on the ballot.
“Our bylaws now permit the MTLP to endorse any candidate regardless of party if we believe it will advance libertarian principles, even when an (L) is filed in that race,” the Libertarian Party of Montana account posted on X Sunday afternoon. “Republican and Democrat candidates often publicly say they have a “libertarian streak” in Montana. This is usually a complete lie, but there are a few exceptions. We will always fight for principle over party. Libertarianism is a political philosophy. We might endorse you if you hold to it.”
https://twitter.com/Montana_LP/status/1706006551096381447
When pressed by one individual via X that this move would see the Libertarian Party of Montana shift to the left, the party pushed back, arguing that it gives the organization more control in a state with open primaries.
“We explicitly refused to endorse leftist Sam Rankin, who ran on the LP ticket in 2022. This allows us to reject LP candidates who run against liberty-oriented Republicans,” the party account explained.
According to the Montana affiliate, the bylaws amendment passed unanimously.
The decision of the Montana affiliate to open itself up to endorsing candidates regardless of ballot label prompted some concern from members of the Libertarian National Committee.
“This goes against our conditions for affiliation,” stated At-large Representative Steven Nekhaila, “Any endorsement of a non-Libertarian candidate by any affiliate must be met with disciplinary action up to and including disaffiliation. I am not willing to play games here.”
“Until further review, I must admit, our bylaws are pretty cut and dried on this matter,” added Region 1 Representative Adam Haman.
LNC Chair Angela McArdle has since contacted the Montana affiliate and is asking members to be patient until she can further speak with its state leadership.
With thanks to Nolan’s Duty for the correction on Steven Nekhaila’s title. – JWE, 9/25/23.
Historically, the LP approach was/is to praise or support IF they’re getting something and where no LP candidate is available, keep it balanced between the other parties, and above all do this as part of work to emplace fusion voting.
“endorse” is perhaps the wrong word. “support” might be better.
That’s a separate issue, perhaps better handled state by state because it collides with different election laws in each state.
George, what do you think of modifying the language to also prohibit endorsing/giving a general election ballot line to a (non-POTUS/VPOTIS) candidate that was in another party’s partisan primary?
The bylaws might usefully be amended
Replace “No affiliate party shall endorse any candidate who is a member of another party for public office in any partisan election.”
with
“No affiliate party shall endorse any candidate for public office who is listed on a ballot as a candidate of another party, unless that person is also listed on the ballot as the candidate of the Libertarian Party for that office.”
National Party Bylaws:
“No affiliate party shall endorse any candidate who is a member of another party for public office in any partisan election.”
The Bylaw has some construction issues. Most American political parties do not have “members” in the sense that the Libertarian Party does. In some states, you can register to vote as a member of a party, but in other states there is no such thing as registration by party.
LPNH adopted a bylaw earlier this year that does effectively the same thing; however I don’t know if they tweeted about it. If they did, the LNC simply ignored it.
Because in most states the ability to be a candidate is not controlled by the party, it can be a problem where someone who clearly isn’t a Libertarian gets on a ballot under our label. However, jumping straight to endorsing an establishment party candidate is a questionable, and lazy, response. If at all possible a genuine Libertarian opponent should be recruited and then supported to defeat the encroacher. Depending on when the interloper is identified, this may not be possible. Should it be the case that the public is unlikely to pay much attention to that individual, then the best course may simply be to ignore them.
Only in the event that the invader is getting significant attention from the general public that is creating a false and odious impression of the LP and there is no opportunity to defeat the individual for nomination should other options be considered, with a public repudiation and disavowal by the party preceding any consideration of endorsing a candidate running under another label.
I will note that here in Oklahoma we have had a candidate, whom I will not name, that we ignored. We’ve also had a candidate, Joe Exotic, who was put in last place in the primary by my friend Rex Lawhorn and I in 2018.
If your plan to counter a ballot label hijackers is to run to an establishment party candidate please do better.
Steven Nekhaila is an at-large member of the Libertarian National Committee (LNC) and also a voting member of the LNC Executive Committee (a core group of the LNC that has nearly independent powers). The LNC is serious about disaffiliating Montana LP over this. What Montana LP is a far more severe than Colorado LP in coordinating with the Colorado GOP in which elected offices to compete upon.