In the November election for the U.S. Senate between Republican David Perdue, Democrat Jon Ossoff and Libertarian Shane Hazel, the vote totals were the following: 2,462,617 for Perdue, 2,374,519 for Ossoff and 115,039 for Hazel. That works out to 49.73% for Perdue, just missing avoiding a runoff by about 13,500 votes.
This kind of scenario is not unusual. And in Georgia, a state where runoffs are required for non-presidential races without a 50%+1, they are likely a little more common. For many Republicans, it often begs the question, are those Libertarian votes tilting the election towards Democrats?
A Fox News article after the election noted that the Libertarian presidential candidate Jo Jorgensen got more votes than the Biden-Trump margin in Michigan, Nevada and Wisconsin – still not quite enough to throw the election to President Trump but suddenly the recounts in Pennsylvania or Georgia would get a lot more significant.
It’s a question Libertarians are quite familiar with and have a ready answer for on the national party’s website. Asked “are Libertarian liberal or conservative?” the national party answer is “Neither. Unlike liberals or conservatives, Libertarians advocate a high degree of both personal and economic liberty.” In essence, they are far too fiscally conservative for liberals and far too socially liberal for conservatives.
But where do they stand when the race comes down to only a Democrat or Republican choice? For many Libertarians, it’s not quite so easy. The country and state’s largest third party certainly sticks to their guns.
Asked whether the state Libertarian Party of Georgia would be making any endorsement in the January races, LPG Chair Ryan Graham was succinct, “We have no intention of endorsing any of the candidates from the two big government parties.”
But they are not shying away from the race. “We have communicated to them that we will happily promote any libertarian policies that they support if they so choose. So far, they have chosen the less substantive strategy of fear based politics. The Republicans refuse to defend their abysmal records, the Democrats don’t say how they’ll do anything better, and none of them have picked up libertarian talking points.”
Graham pointed out that there are 115,000 votes that any of the runoff candidates could earn if they were able to connect on issues that matter to those voters. “Shane Hazel did an outstanding job creating a roadmap to earning 115,000 more votes. It’s on them to get out there and do it,” said Graham.
For now, Graham and the LPG are looking ahead.
“Up next for LP Georgia is to continue building infrastructure throughout the state. Our major goal over the next two years is to get official LP affiliates in each and every Georgia county. No small feat here in Georgia. We’ll also be hard at work recruiting candidates for 2022. I think libertarians in Georgia will be pretty happy with some of the names that are getting tossed around for statewide seats. We’re also trying to encourage newcomers to run for office in the General Assembly or even more local than that. We feel those are winnable races that are usually won by uncontested incumbents.”
