James Wiley, a Region 1 alternate on the Libertarian National Committee, said this week he is leaving the Libertarian Party to seek the Republican nomination for Colorado Secretary of State. In a letter, Wiley said he hopes to push Republicans toward embracing transparency, voting rights, and election integrity.
Independent Political Report first learned of Wiley’s resignation through Keith Thompson, the LNC’s Region 3 South representative. Wiley was first elected to his alternate seat in May. He has previously served as executive director of the Libertarian Party of Colorado and is now involved with the Chainsaw Caucus, a political action committee formed this year by former Colorado Libertarian leaders to advocate for policy and candidates outside the state Libertarian Party.
Wiley also shared a letter explaining his decision to leave the organization in greater detail. In it, Wiley said he was ending his membership in the Libertarian Party of Colorado and stepping down from his LNC role effective immediately. He said the decision was not intended as a rejection of libertarian principles, which he said shaped his worldview and his opposition to electronic voting machines, but a pragmatic response to the risks such systems pose to liberty.
“As we stand on the brink of irreversible tyranny from vulnerable electronic voting machines, I lack the time to nurture a third party into a viable vehicle to achieve human liberty,” the letter reads. “The Libertarian Party, though purpose-built for liberty, operates on the margins and struggles to gain the traction needed for swift, statewide impact.”
Wiley argued that advancing election-related reforms, including opposition to electronic voting machines, would be more viable within the Republican Party, and said he intends to run for secretary of state as a Republican. He also cited the case of Tina Peters, the former Mesa County clerk who was convicted in 2024 on multiple felony charges related to unauthorized access to election system data, defending her as a whistleblower and calling for her release.
While IPR was not able to determine when Wiley initially launched his campaign, his social media presence has previously identified him as a candidate for Colorado secretary of state while still listing his affiliation with the Libertarian Party.
Despite leaving the party, Wiley encouraged unaffiliated voters to register with the Libertarian Party of Colorado ahead of the state’s 2026 deadlines for “strategic purposes.” He further urged party delegates to select None of the Above for nominations for secretary of state, attorney general, and treasurer at the party’s 2026 state convention, arguing that doing so would avoid drawing votes away from candidates aligned with his goals.
“This tactic avoids spoilers that could fracture the human liberty coalition,” Wiley wrote, “ultimately helping promising libertarian Republicans like myself secure victories and advance our shared goals.” He thanked the Libertarian Party for its role in his political development, wished it continued success, and said he expects to work alongside Libertarians again in the future.
I’m so impressed that James Wiley is running for SOS. Yes, the Republican Party is getting pruned, like a tree needs pruning each year. Deadwood always needs to be clipped off. He has inspired me so much that I will help him in his campaign to get elected. Bravo. Representative Scott Bottoms is going to collaborate with him about the election problems and fill him in on specific details. Whoot Whoot. I’m infused with so much hope that we will Reclaim Colorado. Scottbottoms.com
>”I lack the time to nurture a third party into a viable vehicle to achieve human liberty,”
That’s typical Wiley ego, but he couldn’t even get a Pueblo County affiliate going (a county with 150,000 people in it!). I know because I was there and my offer to help was declined.
Reality: he has absolutely no chance to become CO SoS.
I do not know James Wiley, but I noticed that he said on the LNC comments list that he thinks that the LNC should not spend any money on or be involved with ballot access. He said that he thinks that ballot access should be left to the affiliates. This is a very naive and uniformed point of view, in my opinion.
Navigating and complying with all of the ballot access laws across the country is very difficult and without the LNC the Libertarian Party would not have any ballot access in a lot of states. Some states have easier ballot access requirement than others. There are some states where the Libertarian Party has recognized minor party status where ballot access actually becomes more difficult if the Libertarian Party gains major party status (some of these states allow exemptions for more difficult requirements for major party presidential candidates but some do not). The Libertarian Party has never been in a position to where all ballot access can be handled by the affiliates or by individual candidates. Even in a lot of cases when the Libertarian Party gains ballot access in a state without LNC involvement those affiliates usually get donations from Libertarians in other states. LP presidential ballot access has always been handled via a combination of the LNC, the affiliates and the presidential campaigns. Ballot access has been one of the few core functions of the LNC since the party was founded. If not for the LNC being involved in ballot access the Libertarian Party would have a lot less ballot access than it has, and less ballot access means less relevancy as a political party.
I think that Mr. Wiley is about to find out that running for office as a Republican in Colorado is not as easy as he may have thought it was. Major party candidates must appear on a primary ballot and to get on the primary ballot they have to either get at least 30% of the delegates to vote to put them on the primary ballot at the Republican State Assembly or they have to complete a primary ballot access petition where they must get 1,000 valid petition signatures out of each of Colorado’s 8 US House districts (note that the requirement is 1,500 valid signatures out of each US House district for Governor and US Senate and 1,500 valid signatures for US House;; it is 1,000 valid signatures out of each US House district for the lower level statewide offices), so 8,000 valid signatures total, and only registered Republicans can sign these petitions. The 8,000 valid signature petition requirement is for major party candidates for statewide offices, if it is a district office it is a lower requirement depending upon which district office it is. Registered voters in Colorado can only sign primary ballot access petitions for one candidate for each office and only people registered to vote with the party can sign the petition and the petition signers had to have been registered to vote with a political party for at least 22 days before they sign a petition to place a candidate on the primary ballot (the signatures are dated). If a major party candidate in Colorado successfully completes the petition then they only have to get 10% of the vote from the delegates at the Republican State Assembly (or Democratic Party if they are a Democrat) in order to appear on the primary ballot. This is far from easy. Most major party candidates in Colorado have to hire paid petition signature gatherers to complete these petitions to get on primary ballots (major party presidential candidates do not have to petition their way onto primary ballot in Colorado, or at least I have never heard of one having to do so, so they are likely exempted from it). If a candidate does not participate in their party’s state assembly they can still appear on the primary ballot if they successfully completed the petition requirement. The deadline to complete the petition requirement is before the party assembly. Candidates for the 2026 primary must be registered to vote with the party for which they are running by January 2nd. The petition signature gathering window for the primaries starts on January 2nd and goes until March 18th. The party state assemblies are in April.
Is Mr. Wiley prepared to gather 8,000 valid petition signatures from registered Republicans, with a distribution requirement of 1,000 valid signatures from each of Colorado’s 8 US House districts, by March 18th? Does Mr. Wilely have a legitimate chance of winning the support of 30% of the delegates, or even 10% of the delegates, at the Republican State Assembly in April? Does Mr. Wiley plan to participate in the Republican State Assembly to try to win delegate votes or is he just going to go the petition route only? If he makes it onto the primary ballot what chance does he have or winning the nomination and proceeding to the general election ballot?
Unless Mr. Wiley is successful in gathering the 8,000 valid petition signatures from registered Republican voters in Colorado, with 1,000 valid signatures out of each of Colorado’s 8 US House districts, I am skeptical that he will make it onto the Republican primary ballot. I do not know how many candidates are vying for the Republican nomination for Secretary of State, but if he takes part in the Republican State Assembly in April and manages to get 30% of the delegates to vote to put him on the primary ballot, or even 10% if the completes the petition, he would still have to win the primary in order to the nomination and proceed to the general election ballot, and unless he is runs unopposed in the primary, which I doubt will happen, this is not going to be easy.
I will not be surprised if Mr. Wiley never make it onto the Republican primary ballot.
I do not mean this as an attack against Mr. Wiley. I assume that he is a good candidate with good intentions who would do good things if elected. I do not have a problem with libertarians running for office as Republicans, or as candidates for some other party, even the Democratic Party, or as independents/non-partisans, so long as they adhere to libertarian principles. I am just pointing out that it is not as easy to run for office as a major party candidate as a lot of people assume it is. Some people in the liberty movement act as though all libertarians need to do to be successful is run as Republicans as if this is a magic bullet for success. Reality is that it is not a magic bullet for success. It can be successful sometimes, but most of the time the result is that the libertarian loses in the Republican primary, or they never even make it onto the Republican primary ballot. If libertarians put all of their eggs in this basket and the pro-liberty Republican does not win the nomination there is nobody on the general election ballot for them to vote for who delivers a pro-liberty message during the period of time when the highest percentage of the public pays attention to politics, which is the period after the primary until the general election. Capturing a major party nomination is very difficult, particularly for an outsider, which is why it does not happen very often for people who are not in-line with a party’s establishment. The other problem with this strategy is that it gives some people the impression that Republicans are pro-liberty, when for the most part they are not (to varying degrees). If a pro-liberty Republican gets elected they can expect to be attacked by other Republicans.