3244, because that’s how many counties there are in America. Having said that, paying attention to local issues rather than thoughtlessly following county lines is important.
Here is an extended article on the issue.
It’s written for centrist Democrats, but many of the principles are the same when applied to third parties. And in large parts of the country, Democrats [in Massachusetts, Republicans] are in about the same position as Libertarians and Greens: few candidates, little voter support.
Does this include parishes in Louisiana and boroughs in Alaska?
This is the old chicken versus the egg argument of politics.
The chicken, commonly called candidates for office, is easy to see, usually makes lots of noise, but there aren’t very many of them.
The egg, grassroots politics, including everything from doorknocking to showing up at local meetings and events, takes a lot more work. A lot of them break. A lot of them spoil. Some get stolen by hawks. But without a lot of eggs, bye-bye chickens!
Politics is always local. City and county political organizations are far more important than running some bozo for US Senate, who gets no visibility, is not covered by the media or permitted in debated, and sometimes isn’t even in the television reports when they list the results on election night.
Personally, I would choose 324 active county organizations — and by active I don’t just mean monthly meetings at the local diner.
Counties range in population from less than 100 people (including those not eligible to vote) to nearly 10 million. Los Angeles County, California has more people than all but the ten largest population states. Loving County, Texas had 43 people in December 2023 and consists of a single ranch.
324 congressional candidates next year would be more beneficial.
Even better, 435.