The Libertarian Party of the District of Columbia is a political party in the United States active in the District of Columbia. It is a recognized affiliate of the national Libertarian Party.
The Libertarian Party of the District of Columbia is dedicated to the same ideas represented by the national Libertarian Party but also focuses on issues specific to the District of Columbia such as "taxation without representation", home rule, and statehood.
As of April 30, 2022, there are 2,228 registered Libertarian voters in the District of Columbia.
History
The Libertarian Party of the District of Columbia has existed since at least 1981.
1986 election cycle
Scott Kohlhaas was the Libertarian Party candidate for an at-large seat on the Council of the District of Columbia in 1986. Kolhaas had worked in DC on an early unsuccessful education choice tax credit initiative, before DC had its opportunity vouchers or charter schools.
Kohlhaas came in fourth place with 2,261 votes, or one percent of the total vote. Kolhaas moved to Alaska, where he finished his undergraduate education and is active in the Alaska Libertarian Party as a candidate and activist.
1988 election cycle
Dennis Sobin was the Libertarian Party candidate for an
at-large
At large (''before a noun'': at-large) is a description for members of a governing body who are elected or appointed to represent a whole membership or population (notably a city, county, state, province, nation, club or association), rather than ...
seat on the
Council of the District of Columbia
The Council of the District of Columbia is the legislative branch of the local government of the District of Columbia, the capital of the United States. As permitted in the United States Constitution, the district is not part of any U.S. state ...
in 1988. Sobin was an entrepreneur who published an adult magazine, an escort service, telephone party lines, and video stores.
He campaigned to
decriminalize prostitution and
drugs
A drug is any chemical substance that causes a change in an organism's physiology or psychology when consumed. Drugs are typically distinguished from food and substances that provide nutritional support. Consumption of drugs can be via inhalat ...
.
[ He said that drug addiction should be treated as a medical disease rather than as a crime.][ Sobin opposed a proposed law that would have prohibited minors from being inside certain clubs in late hours.
Prissy Williams-Godfrey was the Libertarian Party candidate for the Ward 2 seat on the Council. Williams-Godfrey was a ]prostitute
Prostitution is the business or practice of engaging in sexual activity in exchange for payment. The definition of "sexual activity" varies, and is often defined as an activity requiring physical contact (e.g., sexual intercourse, non-penet ...
and managed a brothel
A brothel, bordello, ranch, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in sexual activity with prostitutes. However, for legal or cultural reasons, establishments often describe themselves as massage parlors, bars, strip clubs, body rub par ...
. Police arrested her, saying her campaign offices were actually brothels. Her name did not appear on general election ballots.
Sobin came in seventh place with 3,419 votes, or one percent of the total vote.
1990 election cycle
Nancy Lord
Nancy Theresa Lord (February 8, 1952 – February 14, 2022) was an American attorney and medical researcher who was the vice-presidential candidate of the Libertarian Party in the 1992 presidential election, as the running-mate of Andre Marrou. ...
ran for Mayor of the District of Columbia
The mayor of the District of Columbia is the head of the executive branch of the government of the District of Columbia, in the United States. The mayor has the duty to enforce district laws, and the power to either approve or veto bills passed ...
as a Libertarian in 1990. Lord campaigned promising a ten-percent decrease in the number of employees of the Government of the District of Columbia
The District of Columbia has a mayor–council government that operates under Article One of the United States Constitution and the District of Columbia Home Rule Act. The Home Rule Act devolves certain powers of the United States Congress to ...
.[ She wanted to end welfare payments within two years and she wanted to end rent control laws. She promised to end government regulations that she said strangle small businesses,][ such as the Boxing Commission and most of the Department of Consumer and Regulatory Affairs. Lord advocated for increasing property taxes on undeveloped parcels of land, and
Jacques Chevalier filed to run for chair of the District Council as a Libertarian, but he was not successful at securing a place on the general election ballot.]
Lord came in third place with 951 votes, or one percent of the total vote.[
]
1994 election cycle
David W. Morris was elected Advisory Neighborhood Commission
Advisory Neighborhood Commissions are bodies of local government in District of Columbia, in the United States. The ANC system was created in 1974 through a District referendum (73 percent voted "yes") in the District of Columbia Home Rule Act. T ...
er for Single Member District 2F04. Morris also served as the treasurer of the Libertarian Party of the District of Columbia.[
]
2000 election cycle
Robert D. Kampia ran as the Libertarian Party candidate for Delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives. Kampia had received a bachelor's degree in engineering science from Pennsylvania State University
The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with campuses and facilities throughout Pennsylvan ...
. He was the founder and executive director of the Marijuana Policy Project
The Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) is the largest organization working solely on marijuana policy reform in the United States in terms of its budget, number of members, and staff.
Its stated aims are to: (1) increase public support for non-pu ...
.[ Kampia campaigned to end the arrest of nonviolent drug users.][ He said the District's biggest problem was that half of black males ages 18 to 35 are incarcerated, on parole, or on probation because anti-drug legislation has displayed a racial bias.][ Kampia advocated for the District's full representation in the United States Congress.][ He said that District residents should be exempt from all federal taxes until the District receives full representation in Congress.][
Matthew G. Mercurio ran as the Libertarian Party candidate for an at-large seat on the Council in 2000.] Mercurio earned a bachelor's degree in economics and mathematics from Boston University
Boston University (BU) is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. The university is nonsectarian, but has a historical affiliation with the United Methodist Church. It was founded in 1839 by Methodists with its original campu ...
and a master's degree and doctorate in economics from Princeton University
Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...
, and he worked as a consulting economist. Mercurio campaigned to legalize medical marijuana use by people who are seriously ill.[
Kampia came in third place, receiving 4,594 votes or three percent of the total vote.][
Mercurio came in sixth place, receiving 5,771 votes, or two percent of the total vote.]
2008 election cycle
Damien Lincoln Ober ran as the Libertarian Party candidate for the District's shadow senator
The posts of shadow United States senator and shadow United States representative are held by elected or appointed government officials from subnational polities of the United States that lack congressional vote. While these officials are not ...
in 2008. Ober worked a bartender, and he was also a writer and a filmmaker.
When ''The Washington Post'' asked Ober about the most urgent issue facing the District, Ober said that Arlington and Alexandria should be returned to the District of Columbia, describing the retroceded land as the District's "phantom limb". When The Washington Post asked why voters should elect him, Ober said, "Anyone who can answer this in 25 words is surely using market-tested phrases in place of true discourse or new ideas about government and advocacy."[
Ober came in fourth place with 5,915 votes or three percent of the total vote.]
2012 election cycle
In 2012, Bruce Majors ran as the Libertarian Party candidate for the Congressional delegate for the District of Columbia. In 2010, Majors told a reporter from ''The Washington Post'' that he was comfortable working with people who support the Tea Party movement
The Tea Party movement was an American fiscally conservative political movement within the Republican Party that began in 2009. Members of the movement called for lower taxes and for a reduction of the national debt and federal budget defic ...
because they have common goals with libertarians. On his blog, Majors posted advice to attendees of the 2010 Restoring Honor rally
The Restoring Honor rally was held August 28, 2010 at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C. and was organized by Glenn Beck to "restore honor in America" and to raise funds for the non-profit Special Operations Warrior Foundation. Billed as ...
that attendees should avoid two Metrorail
METRORail is the light rail system in Houston, Texas (United States). In , the system had a ridership of , or about per weekday as of . METRORail ranks as the second most-traveled light rail system in the Southern United States and the 12th ...
lines because they go through certain neighborhoods. He wrote that many parts of the District are safe, "but why chance it if you don't know where you are?"
During his 2012 campaign, Majors told a reporter from ''The Washington Post'' that he expected to lose. He said his goal was to receive at least 7,500 votes in order to secure major-party status for the Libertarian Party and make it far easier for its candidates to appear on the ballot.[ Majors came in second place with 16,524 votes, or six percent of the total vote.] Because he ran as a Libertarian Party candidate and he received more than 7,500 votes, the Libertarian Party became a major party in the District through at least 2016.
2014 election cycle
Bruce Majors ran as the Libertarian Party candidate for mayor of the District.[ In the general election, Majors came in fifth place with 1,297 votes, or one percent of the total vote.][
Kyle Walker was the Libertarian Party candidate for chair of the Council. Walker came in fifth place with 3,674 votes, or two percent of the total vote.][
Frederick Steiner was the Libertarian Party candidate for at-large member of the Council.] A resident of Fort Totten, Steiner worked in information technology. Steiner came in fourteenth place with 3,766 votes, or one percent of the total vote.[
John Vaught LaBeaume ran as the Libertarian Party candidate to represent Ward 1 on the Council.][ LaBeaume worked as the director of communications for ]Robert Sarvis
Robert Christopher Sarvis (born September 15, 1976) is an American attorney. While attending law school, he was the co-founder and editor-in-chief of the '' NYU Journal of Law & Liberty''; he also clerked for Judge E. Grady Jolly on the U.S. Cou ...
, Libertarian candidate for Governor of Virginia
The governor of the Commonwealth of Virginia serves as the head of government of Virginia for a four-year term. The incumbent, Glenn Youngkin, was sworn in on January 15, 2022.
Oath of office
On inauguration day, the Governor-elect takes th ...
.[ LaBeaume had also written and edited online content for the ]Washington Examiner
The ''Washington Examiner'' is an American conservative news outlet which consists principally of an online/digital website with a weekly magazine, based in Washington, D.C. It is owned by MediaDC, a subsidiary of Clarity Media Group, which is ow ...
.[ He came third place with 829 votes, or four percent of the total vote.][
Ryan Sabot was the Libertarian Party candidate to represent Ward 3 on the Council.][ Sabot came in second place with 2,940 votes, or eleven percent of the vote.][
Preston Cornish ran for the Ward 5 seat on the Council as a Libertarian.][ Born in the District and raised in ]Rockville, Maryland
Rockville is a city that serves as the county seat of Montgomery County, Maryland, and is part of the Baltimore–Washington metropolitan area. The 2020 census tabulated Rockville's population at 67,117, making it the fifth-largest community in ...
, he graduated from Furman University
Furman University is a private liberal arts university in Greenville, South Carolina. Founded in 1826 and named for the clergyman Richard Furman, Furman University is the oldest private institution of higher learning in South Carolina. It became ...
. A resident of Eckington, Cornish worked for Reason Foundation
The Reason Foundation is an American libertarian think tank that was founded in 1978. The foundation publishes the magazine ''Reason''. Based in Los Angeles, California, it is a nonprofit, tax-exempt organization. According to its web site, the f ...
.[ Cornish campaigned to legalize marijuana and decriminalize other "low-risk" drugs.][ He wanted to restore ethical behavior on the District Council, and he favored developing the ward's land for residential and retail uses instead of industrial uses.][ Cornish came in second place and received 1,488 votes, or six percent of the total vote.][
Libertarian Party member William Hanff ran as a ]write-in candidate
A write-in candidate is a candidate whose name does not appear on the ballot but seeks election by asking voters to cast a vote for the candidate by physically writing in the person's name on the ballot. Depending on electoral law it may be poss ...
in the general election for the Ward 5 seat on the Council. Hanff was an assistant professor of mass media at the University of the District of Columbia
The University of the District of Columbia (UDC) is a public historically black land-grant university in Washington, D.C. It was established in 1851 and is the only public university in the city. UDC is a member school of the Thurgood Marshall ...
. In the general election, there were 199 votes for write-in candidates, or one percent of the total; the District of Columbia Board of Elections did not report how many of those votes were for Hanff.[
Pranav Badhwar ran for the Ward 6 seat on the Council.][ A resident of Capitol Hill, Badhwar is originally from India, and he has also lived in Toronto and New York City before moving to the District in 2000.] His campaign focused on job creation and the reducing business regulations in the District.[ He opposed increasing the District's minimum wage, saying that doing so would be detrimental to small businesses.][ He favored giving schools more autonomy to do as they see fit.][ In the general election, he came in second place, receiving 3,127 votes, ten percent of the total vote.]
Sara Jane Panfil announced she would run for Libertarian Party candidate for Delegate to the United States House of Representatives.[ Although Panfil won the Libertarian Party primary election, she did not appear on the general election ballot.
John Daniel ran for ]shadow senator
The posts of shadow United States senator and shadow United States representative are held by elected or appointed government officials from subnational polities of the United States that lack congressional vote. While these officials are not ...
as the Libertarian Party candidate.[ Daniel was an entrepreneur. Daniel came in fourth place with 7,826 votes, four percent of the total vote.][
Martin Moulton was the Libertarian Party candidate for shadow representative.][ Originally from the ]San Francisco Bay Area
The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...
, and a graduate of Dartmouth College, Moulton is a resident of Shaw
Shaw may refer to:
Places Australia
*Shaw, Queensland
Canada
*Shaw Street, a street in Toronto
England
*Shaw, Berkshire, a village
*Shaw, Greater Manchester, a location in the parish of Shaw and Crompton
*Shaw, Swindon, a List of United Kingdom ...
. Moulton worked in the health care technology sector. He is the board vice president of the Washington Area Bicyclist Association, vice chair of the Metropolitan Police Department's Third District Citizens Advisory Council and has served as the president of the Convention Center Community Association. He came in third place with 11,002 votes, or six percent of the total vote.[
]
2016 election cycle
The Libertarian Party ran several candidates in the District of Columbia.
Martin Moulton ran for Delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives. Moulton received 18,713 votes, six percent of the total vote.[General Election 2016: Certified Results]
. ''District of Columbia Board of Elections''. November 18, 2016.
Matthew Klokel ran for an at-large seat on the Council of the District of Columbia. Klokel received 14,178 votes, or two percent of the total vote.[
]Gary Johnson
Gary Earl Johnson (born January 1, 1953) is an American businessman, author, and politician. He served as the 29th governor of New Mexico from 1995 to 2003 as a member of the Republican Party. He was the Libertarian Party nominee for Presid ...
also appeared on the ballot for President of the United States. There were 4,906 District voters who voted for Johnson, two percent of the total vote.[
Based on the number of votes received by Moulton, the Libertarian Party became a major party in the District of Columbia.
]
2018 election cycle
The Libertarians four candidates in the 2018 elections:
Ethan Bishop-Henchman received 17,717 votes, or eight percent of the vote, as the only alternative candidate to the incumbent Council Chair, Phil Mendelson
Philip Heath Mendelson (born November 8, 1952) is an American politician from Washington, D.C. He is currently Chairman of the Council of the District of Columbia, elected by the Council on June 13, 2012, following the resignation of Kwame R. Br ...
.[General Election 2018 – Election Night Unofficial Results]
. ''District of Columbia Board of Elections''. November 7, 2018.
Joe Bishop-Henchman, Bishop-Henchman's husband, was the second-most successful Libertarian candidate, with 14,084 votes, seven percent of total votes, running against Attorney General Karl Racine
Karl Anthony Racine (born December 14, 1962) is a Haitian-American lawyer and politician. He is the first independently elected Attorney General of the District of Columbia, a position he has held since January 2015. Before that, he was the manag ...
.[
Martin Moulton ran as a candidate in the District of Columbia mayoral election, offering Libertarian solutions for education, public safety and other issues. “Moulton says allowing free market forces to shape D.C.’s school system through school choice would help combat the District’s education problems by allowing parents to take control of their children’s education and hold bad schools and ineffective administrators accountable. ... Moulton says of the other problems that the District faces. ‘We think the solutions rely on trusting the public, trusting families, trusting parents, and trusting small businesses to do what’s in their best interests. Let’s take out the regulations that hamper them from doing that.’” He came last in a field of four candidates with 7,152 votes, but with the highest vote tally of any DC Libertarian mayoral candidate ever (As of Nov 4, 2020, Moulton holds the all time record as the top vote earner of any Libertarian in the Nation's Capital).][
Bruce Majors ran as a candidate for Delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives, but came in fifth with 3,827 votes, two percent of the vote.][
Denise Hicks filed to run as a candidate for at-large member of the Council, but did not appear on the ballot.][
]
2020 Libertarian National Convention
DC chair and convention delegate Joseph Bishop Henchman was elected as the 20th chair of the Libertarian National Committee (LNC).
2020 election cycle
In 2020 the DC LP ran Partick Hynes for Delegate to Congress in a crowded field with several independent candidates. He earned over 9,000 votes, maintaining Libertarian ballot status.
2022 Libertarian National Convention
DC elected three delegates to attend the national convention in Reno, NV May 26–29, Tom Fleming, Bruce Majors, and Pranav Badhwar. Majors and Badhwar were unable to attend the convention and the DC LP allowed them to be replaced with alternates who were not DC residents, Stephanie Berlin of Texas and Amy Lepore of Delaware. Tom Fleming was DC delegate chair.
2022 election cycle
No Libertarians appeared in the 2022 primaries due to signature challenges. However, Libertarian voters were mailed Libertarian primary ballots with spaces for write in votes. The party conducted a mailing to registered Libertarian voters asking them to write in their votes in the primary during the early voting period. Bruce Majors declared his candidacy for both Delegate to Congress and for Chair of the D.C. Libertarian Party. Dennis Sobin declared his candidacy for Mayor. The party will hold a convention to be held June 26 at the Southeast Public Library.
See also
* List of state Libertarian Parties in the United States
In addition to the national Libertarian Party in the United States, 48 states operate a state Libertarian Party, plus one representing the District of Columbia.
List of parties
, colspan=2
, -
!Libertarian Party of Nevada
, Charles Melchin
, 1 ...
References
External links
*
*
{{District of Columbia political parties
Political parties in the District of Columbia
District of Columbia
)
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