Alaska Libertarian Party

State affiliate of the Libertarian Party

Libertarian Party of Alaska

Abbreviation| ALP
Chairman| Alex Coker
Founded| 1974; 50 years ago (1974)
Headquarters| Anchorage, Alaska
Membership (2021)| 6,789[1]
Ideology| Libertarianism
Colors| a shade of Blue; Yellow
Senate|

0 / 20

House of Representatives|

0 / 40

U.S. Senate|

0 / 2

U.S. House of Representatives|

0 / 1

Website
alaskalp.org

* Politics of United States
* Political parties
* Elections

The Libertarian Party of Alaska is the affiliate of the Libertarian Party (LP) in Alaska, headquartered in Anchorage.

It is the third-largest active[a] party in Alaska and has the highest percentage of registered Libertarians of any state.[2] Since 2012 candidates running as Libertarians who have won the Democratic-Libertarian-Independence primary have always polled between 5% and 30% in at least one state or federal election every election.

Since Libertarian presidential candidates were on the ballot in 1976, Alaska has been a stronghold for Libertarians with it being their best-performing state in every election until 1992 and was in the top five except in 2004 and 2008. Many of the first offices held by Libertarians were in Alaska.

## History[edit]

The Alaskan Libertarian Party was founded shortly after the national party and grew to become a stronghold for the new party in the late seventies and throughout the eighties. In 1973 John Hospers and Tonie Nathan, the party's 1972 presidential and vice presidential nominees, spoke at the party's first state convention in Fairbanks to fifty members of the party.[3][4] During the 1980 presidential election Ed Clark and Eugene McCarthy both appeared and spoke at their state convention.[5] Two years later the party gained the most votes for a non-write in third-party candidate for governor with Dick Randolph receiving 14.9% of the vote and would maintain it until 1990. However, in 1985 Randolph left to run as a Republican in the 1986 gubernatorial election.[6] Despite the success in 1982 the 1986 Alaska gubernatorial election proved to be a failure as the party leadership rejected the primary winner, Mary O'Brannon, and after failing to remove her with a lawsuit due to her failing to meet the residency requirements they instead chose to launch a write-in campaign with the lieutenant governor candidate and runner up in the primary, Ed Hoch, as their candidate.[7][8] O'Brannon defeated Hoch in terms of popular vote with 1,050 against his 107 write-in votes, but she had lost over 14% and 28,000 votes from Randolph's 1982 campaign.[9] Also in 1986 Andre Marrou, the only sitting Libertarian in a state legislature at the time, lost reelection to the state house.[10] In 1988 the party was successful in placing three legislature candidates on the ballot after the state Supreme Court ruled the filing deadline to be unconstitutional.[11] In 1992 the Alaskan affiliate along with the state's Constitution Party affiliate won a lawsuit against the Alaskan state Elections Division after both of their presidential ballot petitions were rejected.[12]

From 2009 to 2010 the party was engaged in a voter registration drive to reach 9,786 registered voters due to a 2004 bill that changed the Alaskan party qualification rules so that a party using the registration test must have registration of 3% of the last vote cast resulting in mid-term years having higher voter registration amounts needed than presidential election years. From April to June 2009 party registration increased by over 1,000 voters.[13][14]

In 2016, Cean Stevens withdrew after winning the state Libertarian primary to allow Republican Party member and Tea Party favorite nominee of the 2010 Senate election, Joe Miller her spot on the ticket in the 2016 Senate election and Miller was unanimously approved by the executive board to take Stevens' place.[15] Miller came in second place and garnered nearly 30% of the vote, the highest percentage ever received by a Libertarian Senate candidate, but did not beat the total vote record established in 2002 Massachusetts Senate election by Michael Cloud.

## Current officials[edit]

* Bethel City councilor Richard Robb (2017–present)[16]
* Cordova City councilor Ken Jones (2017–present)[17]
* Alaska Public Office Commissioner Robert Clift (2017–present) – Appointed to a five-year term by Bill Walker
* Alaska Public Office Commissioner Adam Schwemley (2017–present) – Appointed to a five-year term by Bill Walker

## Former officials[edit]

* State Representative Dick Randolph (1978–1982) – First person to be elected to partisan office under the banner of the Libertarian Party
* State Representative Ken Fanning (1980–1982) – Second person to be elected to partisan office under the banner of the Libertarian Party
* State Representative Andre Marrou (1985–1987) – 1988 vice presidential nominee and 1992 presidential nominee
* Juneau City councilor Sara Chambers (2006–2010)

## Chairman[edit]

* Terrence Shanigan (2016–2016)[18]
* Jon Watts (2016–2022)[19]
* Alex Coker (2022–present)[20]

## Electoral performance[edit]

### Presidential[edit]

Year | Presidential nominee | Votes | Change

|
|
|

1972 | John Hospers (write-in) | 45 (0.1%) |
1976 | Roger MacBride | 6,785 (5.5%) |  5.4%
1980 | Ed Clark | 18,479 (11.7%) |  6.2%
1984 | David Bergland | 6,378 (3.1%) |  8.6%
1988 | Ron Paul | 5,484 (2.7%) |  0.3%
1992 | Andre Marrou | 1,378 (0.5%) |  2.2%
1996 | Harry Browne | 2,276 (0.9%) |  0.4%
2000 | Harry Browne | 2,636 (0.9%) |  0.0%
2004 | Michael Badnarik | 1,675 (0.5%) |  0.4%
2008 | Bob Barr | 1,589 (0.5%) |  0.1%
2012 | Gary Johnson | 7,392 (2.5%) |  2.0%
2016 | Gary Johnson | 18,725 (5.9%) |  3.4%
2020 | Jo Jorgensen | 8,897 (2.5%)  |  3.4%

### House[edit]

Year | House nominee | Votes | Change

|
|
|

1986 | Betty Breck | 4,182 (2.3%) |
1988 | None | None |  2.3%
1998 | None | None |
2000 | Len Karpinski | 4,802 (1.8%) |  1.8%
2002 | Rob Clift | 3,797 (1.7%) |  0.1%
2004 | Alvin A. Anders | 7,157 (2.4%) |  0.7%
2006 | Alexander Crawford | 4,029 (1.7%) |  0.7%
2008 | None | None |  1.7%
2010 | None | None |
2012 | Jim McDermott | 15,028 (5.2%) |  5.2%
2014 | Jim McDermott | 21,290 (7.6%) |  2.4%
2016 | Jim McDermott | 31,770 (10.3%) |  2.7%
2018 | None | None |  10.3%
2020 | None  | None  |

### Senate Class II[edit]

Year | Senate nominee | Votes | Change

|
|
|

2002 | Leonard Karpinski | 2,354 (1.0%) |
2008 | Fredrick Haase | 2,483 (0.8%) |  0.3%
2014 | Mark Fish | 10,512 (3.7%) |  1.9%
2020 | None  | None  |  3.7%

### Senate Class III[edit]

Year | Senate nominee | Votes | Change

|
|
|

1986 | Chuck House | 3,161 (1.8%) |
1992 | None | None |  1.8%
1998 | Scott A. Kohlhaas | 5,046 (2.3%) |  2.3%
2004 | Scott A. Kohlhaas | 1,240 (0.4%) |  1.9%
2010 | David Haase | 1,459 (0.6%) |  0.2%
2016 | Joe Miller | 90,825 (29.2%) |  28.6%

### Gubernatorial[edit]

Year | Gubernatorial nominee | Votes | Change

|
|
|

1982 | Dick Randolph | 29,067 (14.9%) |
1986 | Mary Jane O'Brannon[b] | 1,050 (0.6%)[c] |  14.3%
1990 | None | None |  0.6%
1994 | None | None |
1998 | None | None |
2002 | William Toien | 1,109 (0.5%) |  0.5%
2006 | William Toien | 682 (0.3%) |  0.2%
2010 | William Toien | 2,682 (1.1%) |  0.8%
2014 | Carolyn Clift | 8,985 (3.2%) |  2.2%
2018 | William Toien | 5,402 (1.9%) |  1.3%

## Voter Registration[edit]

The stagnate registration rate is due to the fact that the Democratic-Libertarian-Independence primary is open which allows any member of either party to vote for a candidate.

Year | RV. | % | Change

|
|
|

2002 | 7,235 | (1.6%) | [21]
2003 | 7,235 | (1.6%) | [22]
2004 | 7,331 | (1.6%) |  0.0%[23]
2005 | 6,932 | (1.5%) |  0.1%[24]
2006[d] | 9,400 | (2.0%) |  0.6%[25]
2007 | 8,587 | (1.8%) |  0.2%[26]
2008 | 8,117 | (1.7%) |  0.1%[27]
2009 | 6,742 | (1.3%) |  0.4%[28]
2010 | 9,280 | (1.9%) |  0.6%[29]
2011 | 8,804 | (1.8%) |  0.1%[30]
2012 | 8,051 | (1.6%) |  0.1%[31]
2013 | 7,687 | (1.5%) |  0.1%[32]
2014 | 7,523 | (1.6%) |  0.1%[33]
2015 | 7,176 | (1.4%) |  0.2%[34]
2016 | 7,477 | (1.5%) |  0.1%[35]
2017 | 7,599 | (1.4%) |  0.0%[36]
2018 | 7,579 | (1.4%) | [37]
2019[e] | 7,251 | (1.3%) |  0.2%[38]

## See also[edit]

* List of state parties of the Libertarian Party (United States)

## Notes[edit]

1. ^ The Alaskan Independence Party has more registered voters, but has only ran four candidates in the past decade and none in 2018
2. ^ The party leadership rejected O'Brannon and ran a write-in campaign with Ed Hoch as their candidate
3. ^ Hoch: 107 (0.1%)  14.9%
4. ^ Listed as political group
5. ^ Listed as political group

## References[edit]

1. ^ "Alaska Division of Elections". www.elections.alaska.gov.
2. ^ Winger, Richard (September 6, 2016). "Colorado Libertarian Registration Exceeds 1%; First Time any Libertarian Registration That High in Any State, Except in Alaska". Ballot Access News. Archived from the original on September 7, 2016. Retrieved September 7, 2016.
3. ^ "Hospers featured speaker for Libertarian meeting". Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. 9 February 1973. p. 3\. Archived from the original on 1 May 2019 - via Newspapers.com.
4. ^ "Libertarian leader explains difference at confab here". Fairbanks Daily News-Miner. 12 February 1973. p. 2\. Archived from the original on 1 May 2019 - via Newspapers.com.
5. ^ "Alaska Libertarian Party 1980 convention". Daily Sitka Sentinel. 21 April 1980. p. 1\. Archived from the original on 24 April 2019 - via Newspapers.com.
6. ^ "Libertarian Leader Quits Party; Seeking GOP Nod For Governor in '86". Associated Press. Archived from the original on 2019-04-10. Retrieved 2019-04-10.
7. ^ "Alaska Libertarian Party launches write-in against Libertarian Party primary victor 1986". Daily Sitka Sentinel. 7 October 1986. p. 3\. Archived from the original on 26 June 2019 - via Newspapers.com.
8. ^ "Former Libertarian in Jail Over Ads". Daily Sitka Sentinel. 17 March 1988. p. 8\. Archived from the original on 26 June 2019 - via Newspapers.com.
9. ^ "1986 Gubernatorial General Election Results – Alaska" (PDF). Alaska Division of Elections. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2 September 2009. Retrieved 2009-08-31.
10. ^ "Libertarians Lose". Daily Sitka Sentinel. 5 November 1986. p. 7\. Archived from the original on 26 June 2019 - via Newspapers.com.
11. ^ "Judge: Libertarians Should be on Ballot". Daily Sitka Sentinel. 13 September 1988. p. 3\. Archived from the original on 26 June 2019 - via Newspapers.com.
12. ^ "Libertarian, Taxpayers Parties to be on Ballot?". Daily Sitka Sentinel. 22 September 1992. p. 1\. Archived from the original on 26 June 2019 - via Newspapers.com.
13. ^ "Alaska Libertarian Party Registration Drive Ahead of Schedule". Ballot Access News. January 2, 2019. Archived from the original on January 2, 2019. Retrieved December 27, 2009.
14. ^ "Alaska Libertarian Party Makes Headway on Ballot Access". Ballot Access News. November 7, 2019. Archived from the original on November 7, 2019. Retrieved June 23, 2009.
15. ^ Herz, Nathaniel (September 6, 2016). "Joe Miller to run as Libertarian in hopes of unseating US Sen. Lisa Murkowski". Alaska Dispatch News. Alaska Dispatch News. Archived from the original on September 23, 2016. Retrieved September 7, 2016.
16. ^ "2017 Bethel City Council Candidate Richard Robb". 27 September 2017. Archived from the original on 2017-09-27. Retrieved 2019-04-09.
17. ^ "Kenneth Byron Jones wins City Council Seat B". 23 March 2017. Archived from the original on 2017-03-23. Retrieved 2019-04-09.
18. ^ "LNC Minutes July 17, 2016" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on July 1, 2017. Retrieved April 12, 2019.
19. ^ "Alaska Libertarian party boots chair weeks before election". The Washington Times. Archived from the original on 2019-04-12. Retrieved 2019-04-12.
20. ^ "Executive Committee". Alaska Libertarian Party. Retrieved 26 September 2022.
21. ^ "Alaska Registered Voters 2002" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2016-12-25. Retrieved 2019-04-11.
22. ^ "Alaska Registered Voters 2003" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 2016-12-23. Retrieved 2019-04-11.
23. ^ "Alaska Registered Voters 2004". Archived from the original on 2018-06-30. Retrieved 2019-04-11.
24. ^ "Alaska Registered Voters 2005". Archived from the original on 2018-06-30. Retrieved 2019-04-11.
25. ^ "Alaska Registered Voters 2006". Archived from the original on 2018-06-30. Retrieved 2019-04-11.
26. ^ "Alaska Registered Voters 2007". Archived from the original on 2018-06-30. Retrieved 2019-04-11.
27. ^ "Alaska Registered Voters 2008". Archived from the original on 2018-06-30. Retrieved 2019-04-11.
28. ^ "Alaska Registered Voters 2009". Archived from the original on 2018-06-30. Retrieved 2019-04-11.
29. ^ "Alaska Registered Voters 2010". Archived from the original on 2018-06-30. Retrieved 2019-04-11.
30. ^ "Alaska Registered Voters 2011". Archived from the original on 2018-06-30. Retrieved 2019-04-11.
31. ^ "Alaska Registered Voters 2012". Archived from the original on 2018-06-30. Retrieved 2019-04-11.
32. ^ "Alaska Registered Voters 2013". Archived from the original on 2018-06-30. Retrieved 2019-04-11.
33. ^ "Alaska Registered Voters 2014". Archived from the original on 2018-06-30. Retrieved 2019-04-11.
34. ^ "Alaska Registered Voters 2015". Archived from the original on 2019-04-11. Retrieved 2019-04-11.
35. ^ "Alaska Registered Voters 2016". Archived from the original on 2017-12-19. Retrieved 2019-04-11.
36. ^ "Alaska Voter Registration by Party/Precinct".
37. ^ "Alaska Voter Registration by Party/Precinct".
38. ^ "Alaska Voter Registration by Party/Precinct".

## External links[edit]

* Official website

* v
* t
* e

Alaska political parties

With ballot status|

* Alaskan Independence
* Democratic
* Libertarian
* Republican

Without ballot status|

* Green

Defunct|

* Republican Moderate

Political party strength in Alaska

* v
* t
* e

Libertarian Party

Chairpersons
of the LNC|

* D. Nolan
* S. Nolan
* Crane
* Bergland
* Clark
* Grant
* VerHagen
* Turney
* Walter
* Gingell
* Dasbach
* Bergland
* Lark
* Neale
* Dixon
* Redpath
* Neale
* Sarwark
* Bishop-Henchman
* Bilyeu
* McArdle

Presidential
tickets|

* 1972 Hospers/Nathan
* 1976 MacBride/Bergland
* 1980 Clark/Koch
* 1984 Bergland/Lewis
* 1988 Paul/Marrou
* 1992 Marrou/Lord
* 1996 Browne/Jorgensen
* 2000 Browne/Olivier
* 2004 Badnarik/Campagna
* 2008 Barr/Root
* 2012 Johnson/Gray
* 2016 Johnson/Weld
* 2020 Jorgensen/Cohen

Parties by state
and territory|

| State|

* Alabama
* Alaska
* Arizona
* Arkansas
* California
* Colorado
* Connecticut
* Delaware
* Florida
* Georgia
* Hawaii
* Idaho
* Illinois
* Indiana
* Iowa
* Kansas
* Kentucky
* Louisiana
* Maine
* Maryland
* Massachusetts
* Michigan
* Minnesota
* Mississippi
* Missouri
* Montana
* Nebraska
* Nevada
* New Hampshire
* New Jersey
* New Mexico (disaffiliated)
* New York
* North Carolina
* North Dakota
* Ohio
* Oklahoma
* Oregon
* Pennsylvania
* Rhode Island
* South Carolina
* South Dakota
* Tennessee
* Texas
* Utah
* Vermont
* Virginia
* Washington
* West Virginia
* Wisconsin
* Wyoming

|

Territory|

* District of Columbia

Conventions|

* 1972 (Denver)
* 1973 (Strongsville)
* 1974 (Irving)
* 1975 (New York City)
* 1976 (Washington, D.C.)
* 1977 (San Francisco)
* 1978 (Boston)
* 1979 (Los Angeles)
* 1980 (Los Angeles)
* 1981 (Denver)
* 1983 (New York City)
* 1985 (Phoenix)
* 1987 (Seattle)
* 1989 (Philadelphia)
* 1991 (Chicago)
* 1993 (Salt Lake City)
* 1996 (Washington)
* 1998 (Washington)
* 2000 (Anaheim)
* 2002 (Indianapolis)
* 2004 (Atlanta)
* 2006 (Portland)
* 2008 (Denver)
* 2010 (St. Louis)
* 2012 (Las Vegas)
* 2014 (Columbus)
* 2016 (Orlando)
* 2018 (New Orleans)
* 2020 (Orlando)
* 2021 chair election
* 2022 (Reno)

Affiliated
organizations|

* Libertarian National Committee
* Mises Caucus
* Radical Caucus
* Libertarians for Life

Related articles|

* Libertarianism
* Committee to Form a Libertarian Party
* Party factions
* Dallas Accord
* Electoral history
* History
* Libertarian pledge

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