As Election Day nears, here come the Libs – and we don’t mean liberals

It’s a week until Election Day, but Wake County Libertarians are already declaring victory.

No, they don’t expect to win a single race. They’re excited about a different triumph – having a Libertarian on the ballot in 17 of 19 legislative races in Wake County.

Travis Groo, chair of the Libertarian Party of Wake County, said the proliferation of Libertarian candidates is an attempt to raise the party’s profile and encourage Libertarians elsewhere in the state to do the same.

“This has to do with Wake County [Libertarians] being very focused on elections,” he said. “We’re trying to set an example for other affiliates to follow.”

The Libertarian Party has access to the ballot because its 2020 candidate for president, Jo Jorgensen, was on the ballot in at least 35 states, meeting the 70% threshold required by law. However, Groo acknowledged that only about half of the Libertarians on the Wake ballot are actively campaigning. What matters isn’t winning. It’s letting voters know there’s an option.

In an era of ever bigger campaign spending, the $15,000 that Wake Libertarians have spent on signs and small newspaper ads is minuscule, but it’s nonetheless a record for the local party. “We want to keep getting bigger and we expect to be bigger in two years,” Groo said.

The party is growing in North Carolina. This is the first year that Libertarian voter registration has topped 50,000, the most of any state except California. In Wake, the party has an active group of members who meet every Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Tobacco Road Sports Cafe and Brewery in Raleigh.

Given the dynamics of the national Republican Party, the increase in Libertarian registration may be more than a blip. As the GOP has become the party of Donald Trump, more traditional Republicans may be drawn to a third party that supports school choice, gun rights, low taxes and less regulation, but takes liberal positions on abortion rights, the death penalty and decriminalizing drugs.

If Trump is the GOP’s 2024 presidential nominee, it “would cause a fair number of people to consider voting Libertarian,” said Michael Munger, chair of Duke’s Political Science Department and one of North Carolina’s most prominent Libertarians. This year he’s running for the state Senate in District 13.

Munger said the Libertarian energy in this midterm election is centered on state government issues, but he expects a rise in Libertarian candidates in Mecklenburg, Greensboro and Asheville in the 2024 presidential election.

Just what it means to be a Libertarian is hard to define. The party, formed in Colorado in 1971, is organized around the idea of “as much liberty as possible” and “as little government as necessary.”

Munger said what Libertarianism is varies with which Libertarian you ask. Essentially, he said, “It is a skepticism about concentrations of power and a belief that people are better off left alone.”

For Matthew Laszacs, a Libertarian running for state Senate in the 14th District, the Libertarian option offers relief from a rigid choice between Republicans and Democrats.

“Each side says, ‘If only we can get enough of a majority, we can shove our agenda down the other guy’s throat.’ When you vote for parties instead of individuals, that’s what you get,” he said. “I just want to have a conversation with people that’s rational and reasonable.”

Libertarian Christopher Robinson, a candidate in state House District 37, said he leans conservative and feels comfortable with an option that suits people wary of extremes. Among newcomers to the Libertarian Party, he said, “Some are very Democratic, but frustrated with how things have gone too far to the left and you have people who consider themselves conservative, but think things have gone too far to the right.”

Robinson said a middle option is appealing to voters, but at this point most don’t want to spend their vote on a party that can’t win. The Wake County ballot is festooned with Libertarians this year, he said, to raise the party’s profile and ultimately its chances.

He said, “You’re always going to be third fiddle until you can get your message out there.”

Associate opinion editor Ned Barnett can be reached at 919-829-4512, or nbarnett@ newsobserver.com