Alaska Libertarian Party

History

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. During the 1980 presidential election Ed Clark and Eugene McCarthy both appeared and spoke at their state convention.

Dick Randolph was elected to the Alaska House of Representatives as a Libertarian in the 1978 election. Randolph and Ken Fanning were elected to the state house in the 1980 election. Randolph received 15% of the popular vote as the party's nominee in the 1982 gubernatorial election, but the Libertarians lost both of their seats in the state house. He became the leader of the party, but left to run for the Republican nomination in the 1986 gubernatorial election. Republican Representative Fritz Pettyjohn said that Randolph was "the glue that held the party together" and his "departure will be a death blow". Andre Marrou was elected to the state house in 1984.

In the 1986 gubernatorial election the party leadership rejected the primary winner, Mary O'Brannon, and chose to launch a write-in campaign with the lieutenant governor candidate and runner up in the primary, Ed Hoch, as their candidate after failing to remove her with a lawsuit due to her failing to meet the residency requirements. 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. Marrou, the only sitting Libertarian in a state legislature at the time, lost reelection to the state house.

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. 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.

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.

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.{{cite news|url=http://www.adn.com/politics/2016/09/06/joe-miller-to-run-as-libertarian-in-hopes-of-unseating-us-sen-lisa-murkowski/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160923030904/http://www.adn.com/politics/2016/09/06/joe-miller-to-run-as-libertarian-in-hopes-of-unseating-us-sen-lisa-murkowski/|url-status=dead|archive-date=September 23, 2016|title=Joe Miller to run as Libertarian in hopes of unseating US Sen. Lisa Murkowski

Current officials

• 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
• Ketchikan Gateway Borough School Board member Stephen Bradford (2021–present).

Former officials

• Bethel City councilor Richard Robb (2017–2018)
• Cordova City councilor Ken Jones (2017–2021)
• 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

• Terrence Shanigan (2016–2016)
• Jon Watts (2016–2022)
• Alex Coker (2022–2024)
• Meghan Trupp (2024–2024)
• Nicholas Conrad (2024–present)

Electoral performance

Presidential

House

Senate Class II

Senate Class III

Gubernatorial

Voter registration

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.

Notes

References

References

1. "Elected Officials".
2. "Alaska Division of Elections".
3. 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.
4. (9 February 1973). "Hospers featured speaker for Libertarian meeting". Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.
5. (12 February 1973). "Libertarian leader explains difference at confab here". Fairbanks Daily News-Miner.
6. (21 April 1980). "Alaska Libertarian Party 1980 convention". Daily Sitka Sentinel.
7. (October 23, 1985). "Libertarian Leader Quits Party; Seeking GOP Nod For Governor in '86". [[Associated Press]].
8. (October 27, 1982). "Libertarian Party a political force in Alaska". [[Grand Junction Daily Sentinel]].
9. (August 21, 1982). "Libertarians Make Push". [[Daily Sitka Sentinel]].
10. (7 October 1986). "Alaska Libertarian Party launches write-in against Libertarian Party primary victor 1986". Daily Sitka Sentinel.
11. (17 March 1988). "Former Libertarian in Jail Over Ads". Daily Sitka Sentinel.
12. "1986 Gubernatorial General Election Results – Alaska". Alaska Division of Elections.
13. (5 November 1986). "Libertarians Lose". Daily Sitka Sentinel.
14. (13 September 1988). "Judge: Libertarians Should be on Ballot". Daily Sitka Sentinel.
15. (22 September 1992). "Libertarian, Taxpayers Parties to be on Ballot?". Daily Sitka Sentinel.
16. (January 2, 2019). "Alaska Libertarian Party Registration Drive Ahead of Schedule". Ballot Access News.
17. (November 7, 2019). "Alaska Libertarian Party Makes Headway on Ballot Access". Ballot Access News.
18. (27 September 2017). "2017 Bethel City Council Candidate Richard Robb".
19. (2018-10-10). "Mayor Richard Robb Has Passed The Torch".
20. (23 March 2017). "Kenneth Byron Jones wins City Council Seat B".
21. Smith, Zachary Snowdon. (2021-03-03). "Schaefer defeats Jones in city council race - The Cordova Times".
22. "LNC Minutes July 17, 2016".
23. "Alaska Libertarian party boots chair weeks before election".
24. "Executive Committee".
25. "Meeting Minutes".
26. "Executive Committee".
27. "Political Parties and Groups in Alaska".
28. "Alaska Registered Voters 2002".
29. "Alaska Registered Voters 2003".
30. "Alaska Registered Voters 2004".
31. "Alaska Registered Voters 2005".
32. "Alaska Registered Voters 2006".
33. "Alaska Registered Voters 2007".
34. "Alaska Registered Voters 2008".
35. "Alaska Registered Voters 2009".
36. "Alaska Registered Voters 2010".
37. "Alaska Registered Voters 2011".
38. "Alaska Registered Voters 2012".
39. "Alaska Registered Voters 2013".
40. "Alaska Registered Voters 2014".
41. "Alaska Registered Voters 2015".
42. "Alaska Registered Voters 2016".
43. "Alaska Voter Registration by Party/Precinct".
44. "Alaska Voter Registration by Party/Precinct".
45. "Alaska Voter Registration by Party/Precinct".