Ed Wright (fmr LPIA Chair), ToyA Johnson (2022 State Senate candidate), Rick Stewart (2022 Gubernatorial candidate), Jules Cutler (LPIA Chair), Jeni Kadel (2022 State House candidate), and David Green (State Central Committee member)
DES MOINES, IOWA (December 9, 2022) — LPIA Chair, Jules Cutler, alongside Rick Stewart, candidates, volunteers, and party leaders gathered today to file with the Secretary of State’s Office. The Libertarian Party of Iowa qualified to file for full party status after Rick, the party’s gubernatorial candidate, and his running mate, Marco Battaglia, received 2.4% in the November 8 General Election.
“This is a great milestone in the history of Iowa's political landscape. The middle of the road voters are looking for their political home and we welcome them,” said Cutler.
This is the second time that the Libertarian Party will have reached “Major Party” status in Iowa.
First obtained after Governor Gary Johnson’s 2016 Presidential campaign, but the party was unable to maintain the 2% required by a top-of-ballot candidate. Jake Porter’s 2018 campaign fell short during a close, hard-fought race that featured current Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds and Democratic challenger Fred Hubbell.
This is the first time a traditional “Third Party” has surpassed the necessary threshold in a gubernatorial race. The other two times that mark had been reached were in Presidential campaigns, the aforementioned Johnson campaign for the Libertarians, and in 2000, Ralph Nader’s campaign secured full-party status for the Green Party in Iowa.
The Libertarian Party of Iowa is committed to America’s heritage of freedom: Individual liberty and personal responsibility, a free-market economy of abundance and prosperity, a foreign policy of non-intervention, peace, and free trade. Find out more at lpia.org.
