The Libertarian Party of Maryland has come out against the Libertarian National Committee’s decision to recognize the Granite State Libertarian Party as its new affiliate in New Hampshire, specifically taking issue with the state group’s membership rules.
The Maryland party made its remarks on Monday, one day after the LNC voted to recognize the Granite State Libertarians. The national committee considered applications from two organizations vying for recognition in New Hampshire, ultimately selecting the Granite State Libertarians over another organization using the same name as the former affiliate.
“[A]fter removing the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire (LPNH), National Libertarian chairman replaces LPNH with a clique of about a dozen people, who had an invite-only Convention,” the Maryland affiliate said, including photos of LNC Chair Evan McMahon and Rachel “Blackfyre” Danner, the new affiliate chair.
The Maryland affiliate also accused the Granite State Libertarians of creating what it called “a first-of-it’s-kind membership review board” that could deny voting membership to libertarians who do not share “their progressive brand of left libertarianism.”
The Granite State Libertarian Party formed in late August following the national party’s disaffiliation of the former Libertarian Party of New Hampshire. National committee members revoked that party’s affiliation shortly after the 2026 Libertarian National Convention, pointing in part to its 2024 endorsement of Republican Donald Trump and what the committee called “anti-libertarian positions” espoused by the group. The Libertarian Party’s Judicial Committee later upheld the disaffiliation by a unanimous vote in August.
Nearly two dozen people participated in the Granite State Libertarians’ founding convention, including organizers drawn from members of Danner’s earlier New Hampshire Libertarians group, former state Libertarian leaders, and former and current officeholders. Delegates elected Danner, who has publicly said she was previously a dues-paying member of the Maryland affiliate, as chair and adopted bylaws establishing several levels of membership.
Under the bylaws, most new members must spend at least one year as Pledge Members before they can apply for Activist status, which additionally requires approval by the party’s Membership and Credentials Committee. The committee can also establish additional promotion standards beyond the tenure requirements. After another year, Activist Members can then seek Sustaining status, which makes them eligible to vote at state conventions.
“This behavior is a cancer to the party, disenfranchising thousands of libertarians in New Hampshire and preventing anyone else from becoming national delegates,” the Maryland affiliate said. “Shame and dishonor on you two.”
National convention delegates must be at least Activist Members, meaning most new members must spend at least one year as Pledge Members and receive committee approval before becoming eligible. Those who participated in the original ratification of the party’s bylaws are classified as Charter Members and considered Sustaining Members once they pay their dues, though they are not subject to the same waiting periods.
Someone in the comments quoted the large number of delegates at the LP NH conventions. But this means nothing. The LP of Kentucky has also been under the grip of Mises minions for the last few years, and they now only get 15 to 20 people at their annual state conventions. They basically died two years ago and show no proof of life these days.
Note that the 2025 LP of NH Convention has 103 delegates and the 2026 LP of NH Convention had 130 delegates.
This is a good way to manipulate the New Hampshire delegation to the 2028 Libertarian National Convention in order to get a particular outcome in votes.
Maybe Maryland Libertarians are overrun with Mises Mice who are afraid that the new New Hampshire affiliate is trying to prevent that or similar cropping up anew in New Hampshire.
Would be a shame if the same thing happened in Maryland….
I don’t have a dog in this hunt, but having lived in a state where the state LP had similarly byzantine rules with Class A, B and C members, and who could do what and vote in what. It felt awfully discouraging to move to a state, join the state party, and be told “sorry, you can’t do X, Y and Z until you’ve been here so many years.”
Maybe LPMD ought to get its own act together instead of criticizing GSLP…