The Libertarian National Committee voted this month to hold the party’s 2028 national convention in El Paso, Texas, selecting the city over Richmond, Virginia, after two rounds of balloting.
Vote totals shared on the committee’s public Business List show that the final vote was 9–8 in favor of El Paso. Members also had the option to select “None of the Above,” which would have prompted further research into additional potential venues.
The site selection vote followed a special virtual meeting held February 10, during which committee members heard presentations from venue representatives in El Paso, Richmond, and Frisco, Texas. The Frisco proposal was later removed from consideration prior to the official vote. Voting on the remaining sites was open for two days.
The party originally solicited venue submissions in October 2025, issuing a request for proposals seeking sites capable of accommodating a ballroom of at least 30,000 square feet, a secondary space of 9,000 square feet for meals, additional breakout rooms, and an exhibit area for approximately 50 booths. A tentative date of February 18–21 was identified for the event, though it remains subject to change.
The first round of voting resulted in an 8–8 tie between El Paso and Richmond, with a single abstention. Under LNC bylaws, voting must continue until a single option receives a majority. However, because neither site received fewer votes in the initial round, no location was eliminated at that stage.
In the second round, Region 1 Representative Andrew Chadderdon, who had cast the abstaining vote in the first round, voted for Richmond. Meanwhile, at-large Representative Doug Knebel changed his vote from Richmond to El Paso, giving El Paso the majority required for approval.
Further logistical details for the 2028 convention, including the programming schedule, will not be finalized until a later date. The event will include the party’s presidential nominating process, during which delegates will select the Libertarian Party’s next presidential ticket. The party’s next national convention is scheduled to take place May 21–25, 2026, in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
Andy:
I point you to the Libertarian National Platform, which sums it up in one sentence: “Economic freedom demands the unrestricted movement of human as well as financial capital across national borders.”
*Unrestricted*. End of discussion.
There is no such thing as free movement of people when it conflicts with property rights. libertarianism is based on property rights. Property rights means exclusivity to property, Exclusivity to property means that property is for the use of some person or people but not for the use of everyone. This means that a property owner or owners have the right to exclude people to property, and that if the government (ie-the state) has a monopoly on regulating taxpayer owned property that the state can exclude non-citizen taxpayers from property and the state can set the terms for the entry of non-citizens into the country, and if those terms are violated the state can expel or deport non-citizens from the property just as a private property owner or their hired security guards would do to trespassers.
The commons and infrastructure in the USA is for the use of American citizens and for the use of LAWFUL alien guests. Lawful aliens can use the commons and infrastructure only if they are in compliance with regulations for the terms of entry to the country. Non-citizens have no right to be in the country, their presence in the country is a privilege, not a right.
Now before anyone pops up here making an anarcho-capitalist argument, I will address it. If we lived in an anarcho-capitalist society that would mean everything is private property, and entrance to property would be regulated by property owners or by voluntary groups of property owners. Such a society would not have open borders as each property owner or group of property owners would set their own entrance policies. Such a society would have no anti-discrimination laws, no taxpayer funded infrastructure or commons and no taxpayer funded welfare programs. Such a society would also have no democratic elections unless were held by voluntary groups and the outcomes of those elections would only apply to those who consented to the election and to their property. We don’t live in a world like this, but even if we did the open borders unlimited unrestricted immigration arguments would still be bogus.
Where nothing will be agreed upon due to individual liberty. There’s only Hobbes or Locke, quit trying to make up something new.
February is a bad time for a national political convention. A bad snow storm means some people won’t be able to make it.
El Paso is the vastly better choice, symbolically – the LP can take a strong principled stand in favor of immigration with public displays and demonstrations in favor of the free movement of peoples.
El Paso may be a cheaper option for the Party, but it sure as hell isn’t better for potential delegates. Their airport is only served by major hubs and can get shut down at a moment’s notice if things go whack at Fort Bliss nearby. Not to mention the ICE detention facility nearby and the the continued horde of both ICE/CBP and illegal aliens. The city is really ITMOFN.
Frankly, of the two, Richmond was a better choice for the delegates.
Frankly, overall, they should have been looking at something more western again, like a Salt Lake City (last in 1993), Seattle (last in 1987), or Phoenix (last in 1985), or even better, a state that has never had it before (AL, AK, AR, CT, DE, HI, ID, IA, KS, KY, ME, MN, MS, MT, NE, NH, NJ, OK, OR, RI, SC, SD, TN, VT, VA, WV, WI, or WY).
And a February convention is going to really mess with a lot of states and their conventions; not to mention the convention committees themselves.
Early read? Fail.