Libertarian Party of North Carolina

The Libertarian Party of North Carolina (LPNC) is the North Carolina affiliate of the Libertarian Party.

Libertarian Party of North Carolina
ChairpersonRyan Brown[1]
Senate leaderNone
House leaderNone
Founded1975
HeadquartersRaleigh
Membership (2024)Decrease49,791[2]
IdeologyLibertarianism
National affiliationLibertarian Party (United States)
Colors  Gold
North Carolina Senate
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North Carolina House of Representatives
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U.S. Senate (North Carolina)
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U.S. House of Representatives (North Carolina)
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Other elected officials0 (June 2024)[3]
Website
www.lpnc.org
The entire 1976 N.C. Libertarian ticket: Arlan Andrews (far left), candidate for governor; Roger McBride (center), presidential candidate; Carl Wagle (third from right), 5th district Congressional candidate; and Andrew Eiva (second from right, aide-de-camp to Andrews. The others are unidentified. (Photo Courtesy Arlan Andrews)

Organization

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Members of the executive committee are elected biannually at conventions to carry out the essential functions of a political party.[1]

  • State Chair: Ryan Brown
  • Vice Chair: Sean Haugh
  • Treasurer: Mike Ross
  • Secretary:
  • Members at Large:
    • Mac Browder
    • Nick Taylor
    • Christina Aragues
    • Angela Humphries

The party also maintains active local organizations in over two dozen counties and on half a dozen college campuses. LPNC may also be the only party in U.S. history that had an Indian Nation as an active local affiliate, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians.[4]

Party platform

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The most recent platform of the Libertarian Party of North Carolina was adopted at the party's convention on March 6, 2022.[5]

The Libertarian Party of North Carolina follows the national party's platform with certain planks tailored to state-specific issues such as advocating for the abolition of the North Carolina ABC and the North Carolina Education Lottery along with a liberalization of laws to allow private actors to compete in these spaces. The party supports efforts to greatly expand ballot access in the state for both organized parties and individual independents and has partnered with the Green Party of North Carolina to sue both the Federal Election Commission and the State of North Carolina in efforts to improve access to debates and elections.[6]

Recent election results

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2020 elections

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Gubernatorial election

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2020 North Carolina gubernatorial election[7][8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic Roy Cooper (incumbent) 2,834,790 51.5% +2.5%
Republican Dan Forest 2,586,605 47.0% −1.8%
Libertarian Steven J. DiFiore 60,449 1.1% −1.1%
Constitution Al Pisano 20,934 0.4% N/A
Total votes 5,502,778 100% N/A
Turnout 5,545,847 75.4%
Registered electors 7,359,798
Democratic hold

United States Senate election

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2020 United States Senate election in North Carolina[7]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Republican Thom Tillis (incumbent) 2,665,598 48.7% N/A
Democratic Cal Cunningham 2,569,965 46.9% −N/A
Libertarian Shannon Bray 171,571 3.1% −0.6%
Constitution Kevin E. Hayes 67,818 1.2% N/A
Total votes 5,474,952 100%
Republican hold

2022 elections

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United States Senate election

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2022 United States Senate election in North Carolina[9]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Republican Ted Budd 1,905,786 50.50% −0.56%
Democratic Cheri Beasley 1,784,049 47.27% +1.90%
Libertarian Shannon W. Bray 51,640 1.37% −2.20%
Green Matthew Hoh 29,934 0.79% N/A
Write-in 2,515 0.07% N/A
Total votes 3,773,924 100.0%
Republican hold

Electoral history

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In 1992, Libertarian candidate for Governor Scott Earle McLaughlin achieved 4.1 percent of the popular vote in a fully contested race, with 104,983 votes. This remains the highest percentage gained by a third party candidate for that office by any party in North Carolina since that year.

In the 2008 elections, Michael Munger running as the party's candidate for Governor of North Carolina, received 121,585 votes for 2.9% of the total vote.

Also in 2008, Chris Cole, running as the party's candidate for US Senate, received 133,430 votes for 3.1% of the total vote.

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References

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  1. ^ a b "Executive Committee". Libertarian Party of North Carolina.
  2. ^ "Voter Registration Statistics". North Carolina State Board of Elections.
  3. ^ "Elected Officials". Retrieved June 1, 2024.
  4. ^ "Short History". Libertarian Party of North Carolina.
  5. ^ "Platform of the Libertarian Party of North Carolina". Libertarian Party of North Carolina.
  6. ^ "Libertarians, Greens Sue FEC".
  7. ^ a b "State Composite Abstract Report – Contest.pdf" (PDF). North Carolina State Board of Elections. Retrieved November 24, 2020.
  8. ^ "NC SBE Contest Results". er.ncsbe.gov. Retrieved 18 December 2020..
  9. ^ "11/08/2022 OFFICIAL LOCAL ELECTION RESULTS - STATEWIDE". North Carolina State Board of Elections.
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