Ben Weir, the Region 6 Alternate on the Libertarian National Committee, is asking the national organization to censure the Libertarian Party of Ohio on the grounds that running a candidate against Republican Vivek Ramaswamy in the 2026 governor’s race jeopardizes what he considers a rare national opportunity to advance deregulation.
In a December 8 email shared to the LNC’s public Business List by another member, Weir said the Ohio affiliate’s gubernatorial plans amount to “strategic obstruction” at a moment when he believes national-level deregulation is within reach. Weir asked the committee to issue a censure in response, arguing that the move would be “necessary to set a clear boundary” that affiliates “cannot sabotage the most meaningful deregulation opportunity of this generation while operating under the LP banner.”
“By running a competing gubernatorial candidate against Vivek Ramaswamy… a former Libertarian Party National Member and the most significant opportunity for mass-scale deregulation and dismantling of the administrative state in modern politics… LP Ohio is choosing symbolism over impact,” Weir’s email reads.
The Libertarian Party of Ohio previously announced its intention to field a full slate in 2026 as part of its broader ballot-access strategy, with the ultimate goal of 99 total candidates across the state. According to a candidate list on its website, the party has to date identified 17 candidates for the coming election cycle, including Travis Jon Vought for governor. In a December 8 post, the national Libertarian Party added that Mike Mains is also running for governor as a Libertarian.
As a regional alternate, Weir cannot independently introduce a censure motion, and no other LNC member has made such a motion as of this article. The Libertarian Party of Ohio, which is located in Region 3 North, has not publicly responded to his remarks.
This is also not the first time Weir has openly criticized the possibility of the Ohio Libertarians fielding a challenger to Ramaswamy. When Ramaswamy launched his campaign in late February, Weir posted on his X account urging “as many libertarians as possible” to get involved with the effort and suggested the Ohio affiliate should face disaffiliation if it chose to run a competing candidate.
At the time, Weir reiterated that he was an anarchist before a Libertarian and described a challenge to Ramaswamy as “political cosplay,” adding, “When asked if the LP should run candidates against libertarians like Vivek, Massie, Amash, or Rand Paul… the answer should always be NO. If their answer is ‘yes’ or if they try to argue with purity test tactics, then they shouldn’t be an LP affiliate.”
It’s telling that Weir is both so incompetent that he needs a LLM to write for him, and so stupid as to want the LNC to censor a state affiliate for actually doing what it is supposed to do for ballot access in running candidates.
He needs to resign from the LNC immediately and be replaced with a potted plant, since that would be a step up.
Ben Weir ought to ask Vivek Ramaswamy if Vivek would promise to support changing the definition of a qualified party in Ohio, so as to require it to poll 3% for any statewide office, not just president or governor. Most states use the vote for any statewide office. There is no reason why Ohio shouldn’t make that change also.
As long as the Ohio law requires the LP to poll 3% for Governor, it is perfectly rational for the Ohio LP to run someone for Governor.
John Ponty: I believe I missed his resignation, so I appreciate the correction. Thank you!
Slight correction: Weir does not currently chair the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire (he had resigned earlier this year).
Also not fully pertinent, but the email that Weir sent appears to have been made by an LLM instead of Weir himself, as the question at the end of the email is usual for an LLM after it has generated content for the prompter.