Wake Libertarians will be contesting nearly half of the county's 16 General Assembly districts. Five candidates filed today and two more will file Friday.

They are:

• Brad Hessel, 62, of Raleigh, a knowledge management consultant - Senate 15 

• Susan Hogarth, 49, of Raleigh, a research assistant - Senate 17

• Brian Lewis, 43, of Cary, a communications technician – House 11.

• Brian Irving, 67, of Cary, a retired Air Force officer and freelance journalist - House 36.

• Rob Rose, 60, of Apex, a senior support analyst - House 37.

• Olen Watson, 44, of Raleigh, a construction project engineer, - House 38.

• David Ulmer, 43, of Raleigh, a network engineer - House 49.

Contact information here.

The WakeUp Liberty 2016 Slate: (From left, standing) Brian Irving, Susan Hogarth, Rob Rose,
Brad Hessel, David Ulmer, (seated) Sean Haugh, Lon Cecil, Olen Watson.

In 2014, there was only one Libertarian on the ballot in Wake County: Sean Haugh, who ran for U.S. Senate against Kay Hagan (D) and Thom Tillis (R). He did well, drawing more votes in Wake than in any of the other 99 counties in North Carolina on his way to the best overall showing ever by a Libertarian U.S. Senate candidate. And it’s likely that Wake County voters will get another chance to vote for Haugh in 2016, as he has let it be know that he will be running for the seat currently held by Richard Burr.

This time, though, he won’t be the lone Libertarian on the ballot.

Erik Wilson, vice chair of the Republican Liberty Caucus of North Carolina will speak at the regular meeting of the WakeLP Feb. 20. Erik will talk to us about the RLC in general as well as what particular objectives they have in North Carolina and Wake County which may be of mutual interest which we could conceivably cooperate on.

Meeting starts at 7 p.m. and the RLC presentation will begin at 7:30 to give everyone time to find a seat and order food and drinks.