The Libertarian Party of Wake County is in “decent shape” in 2020 and getting better. That was the word from David Ulmer, county chair, to the delegates assembled February 26 for the annual county convention.

“WakeLP is in decent shape,” Ulmer said. “As in 2018, we’re taking a team approach to the 2020 campaign. People from the 2018 campaign are doing the same job in 2020; people who’ve done it before and have the experience.

Our 13 legislative candidates will run on the same issues. This year they are school choice, privatizing the ABC system, and housing affordability.

“These issues are designed to work in Wake County,” Ulmer said. “Wake County is trending left, it’s going blue. Raleigh is deep blue, and maybe there’s a little purple around the edges. So we wanted to appeal to voters with issues that appeal to them.”

We chose these issues based on analysis of polling results.

“Wake candidates will focus on under 40 votes who probably only show up in presidential election cycle,” Ulmer explained. “They show up to vote for president, maybe one or two other candidates, but they are flexible.

The most critical point, he said, is that they’re not hardcore committed to the Democratic or Republican party.

That’s something to consider when interacting on social media, Ulmer observed. “Arguing with ardent Trump or Bernie supporters is not productive, and probably not advancing our cause,” he said.

“The people we’re trying to reach may not tune in until two weeks before the election. We should spend our time focusing on our issues and educating undecided voters.

Ulmer admitted WakeLP is not quite hit the mark recruiting volunteers. He said the party has not brought in many new people with the skills it needs.

“We need to have depth and strength, and not have to depend on one or two people,” he said. The key is to ask more people to participate. If you ask five people and only two say yes, that’s OK, he said.

“The goal is not to ask, ‘What more can I do,’ but, ‘who can I find to do more,’” he concluded.

DiFiore for Governor

The convention also heard from Steve DiFiore, Libertarian candidate for governor. View Steve's comment here.

Another year, another new all-time record for the Libertarian Party of North Carolina. In 2019, while the number of registered voters overall in North Carolina declined by four percent, the number of registered Libertarians edged up three percent to a new all-time high of 39,631.

In contrast, the number of Democrats declined seven percent, Republicans lost four percent, and even the number of “Unaffiliated” voters, the state's name for independents, was down one percent.

The percentage of voters registered as either Democrat or Republican fell to an all-time low of 66.58 percent. That continues a quarter-century decline from 91.87 percent back in 1993.

The holidays are upon us. Before you go to your festivities, here’s a quick note on how WakeLP is wrapping up 2019, and moving into the next decade.

Candidates are currently filing to run for office in 2020. It looks like the Libertarian Party of North Carolina will have candidates running for governor and a Wake resident, Shannon Bray, will run for U.S. Senate. Eight Wake Libertarians have already filed to run for the General Assembly and we expect another five or six to have filed by next Wednesday.

There are 11 state House seats and 5 state Senate seats in our county. We’d love to offer voters a Libertarian choice in all of those races. It’s important voters see more than just Democrats and Republicans on their ballot in 2020.

The candidates who’ve filed to date are:

NC Senate 17 – Travis Groo
NC Senate 18 – Jason Loeback
NC House 11 – Adrian Travers
NC House 37 – Liam Leaver
NC House 41 – Guy Meilleur
NC House 49 – Cap Hayes
NC House 38 – Richard Haygood
NC House 35 – Michael Nelson

All but Loebck and Travers ran in 2018.

Voter Info

Here are links to maps fo the state legislative districts for the 2020 election:

State Senate Map

State House Map

You can look up your districts on the State Board of Elections website here.