The Libertarian Party of Arkansas had an exceptionally strong election night Tuesday, winning one of the state’s counties in the gubernatorial race and qualifying the party for future elections as a result of its overall statewide showing.
According to unofficial results by the Associated Press as of Friday morning, the Arkansas party’s gubernatorial candidate, Colt Shelby, earned 66,894 votes for 7.6 percent of the total in his campaign against incumbent Republican Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Democratic nominee Fred Love. At 99 percent of expected votes reported, Sanders won the race with 477,138 votes, or 53.9 percent, with Love coming in second with 341,666 votes.
Shelby’s third-place showing represents the largest percentage of the vote earned by a Libertarian gubernatorial candidate this cycle, followed by Don Kissick in Ohio, who is sitting at 3.3 percent. It’s also notable for being the sole instance Independent Political Report is aware of in which a Libertarian gubernatorial candidate finished first in a county this year, with Shelby taking the state’s Franklin County with 2,351 votes for 45.5 percent of the total.
During the 2022 gubernatorial election, Libertarian candidate Ricky Harrington earned just 139 votes for 2.2 percent of the total in the same county. Outside Franklin County, Shelby also had two other notable results, coming in second in nearby Scott and Logan counties, surpassing Love in both places.
Shelby’s campaign was likely helped by his personal history with the region. As a local resident, he gained statewide attention through his opposition to Sanders’ proposal to construct a 3,000-bed prison in the county. The project faced significant local resistance before plans for its construction were put on hold earlier this year.
Beyond setting a high mark for a Libertarian in a gubernatorial race this year, Shelby has also positioned the Libertarian Party of Arkansas to retain its recognized status for future elections. Under Arkansas law, political parties must receive at least 3 percent of the statewide vote in either the gubernatorial or presidential election to maintain recognition. Parties failing to meet that threshold must go through the arduous task of collecting 10,000 valid signatures from registered voters to regain access.
For Arkansas Libertarians, that means the party will be able to nominate candidates for the 2028 election cycle without needing to undertake another petition drive, something it had to do for this year. According to the party, this is also the first time since the late 19th century where a third party organization has successfully retained this status.
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