Applicable to all third parties in every state.
This year, besides the statewide offices, Virginians elected 100 State Representatives. For the first time in a very long time, the Democrats ran a candidate in every single district, including districts were defeat was certain. Those candidates brought out voters, not just for themselves, but for statewide candidates, at least one of whom was through his own fault in a challenging race.
The Democrats flipped a bunch of seats from Republican to Democrat.
Extensive coverage of the Virginia races in question is found on Daily Kos.
It is fairly easy to do better if you start planning months ahead instead of waiting for the last moment which I have seen to often.
Colorado has ran full slates and I’m a proponent. Give no quarter to the Mises sell-out “strategy”, their enablers, or covering for embezzlement.
Meh. My state LP way back in the day, when I was a county chair and state vice-chair, was huge on running “paper candidates” so that every possible race was covered. Yeah, there was an L in every race, but the big problem was that most of them had no business running for office and their campaigns were non-existent, amateurish, or worst of all, they weren’t even really libertarian. The guy running the party (who was big on “fusion”) was grabbing anybody and everybody without even bothering to vet them, just so he could crow there was a candidate in every race.
Yes, you need to recruit people who are libertarian and who are not embarrassing. This was easier to do for the Democrats. It would be hard to do for Massachusetts Republicans.
Why would it be hard for Massachusetts Republicans? Because they are almost extinct, down to 8.4% of the registered voters.
I wonder if there are any Virginians reading this who can comment on the fact that the LP had only two candidates running this time around. I hear the ballot access laws are restrictive in VA but I wonder if the state party even tried, or just left it to individuals who felt motivated enough to get on the ballot themselves. One of the two candidates seems to have been a rather poor choice, as his candidacy as a Libertarian was the fourth different party he’s run under (Constitution, Right to Life, and Republican being his previous three).
I couldn’t tell you anything. Maybe the party is active in cities, but it’s a 90 minute drive for me to the nearest city and I’m not interested in a 3 hour drive for that stuff. The party seems completely dead except for some activity on facebook. I don’t use facebook. I get one email from them every four years regarding presidential petitioning and that’s basically it for the last decade. There were no Libertarian candidates on my ballot.
Virginia makes Connecticut, my former state, seem extraordinarily active by comparison. Although, I’ve heard that since I left Connecticut they shut down the email list, stopped doing in-person state central committee meetings, and they only update their web site once every couple of years, so again, if you aren’t on facebook or X, you wouldn’t know they did anything at all, anymore.
Sounds like Oregon.
[places my finger on my nose and nods…]
A lot of it had to do with the Gubernatorial candidates (and Trump, of course). The Democratic Gubernatorial candidate had a plan which addressed a variety of topics with the intent to address actual problems. The Republican candidate’s web site had only two specifics: deport illegal immigrants and stop transgender kids from competing in girl’s sports.
The difference in campaign styles was remarkable. It made the Democrats seem like they had their act together while the Republicans looked exactly like the intellectually and morally bankrupt party they have become under Trump.
Here’s some food for thought. A Pennsylvanian worth $60 billion (yes, with a B) just gave $100 million to the Univ. of Austin. The man is a registered Libertarian.
There is another factor. It was a good year for Democrats in Virginia.
This is not a new lesson. There are leaders in both party who have always understood you cede no ground and always prepare for an opportunity incase one arises.
However depending on your party at that very moment it may not be possible.
Republicans in NYC could in theory have a candidate in every race. In reality though even for them it can be hard to get on the ballot with the infrastructure they have. The Bronx while technically a constituted party has not actually had the 20% of local committee slots filled with members who are active committee members. The party has been known to just add registered Republicans as committee members without their knowledge.
“However depending on your party at that very moment it may not be possible.”
Exactly. You need financial and personal resources to have a “cover the earth” strategy. Barring that, the next best thing to do is identify competitive districts in which to run candidates.
No, you need enough candidates, and enough resources to put them all on the ballot. That’s all. Targeting ‘competitive districts” misses the point of the approach.