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.

There are 11 NC House districts and 5 NC Senate districts in Wake County (one of the Senate districts is shared with Franklin County). So far, the WakeLP have recruited candidates to run in seven of them, with potential candidates considering a run in five other districts:

• House 11—confirmed candidate (incumbent Hall-D)
• House 33—possible candidate (incumbent Gill-D)
• House 34—still looking (incumbent Martin-D)
• House 35—possible candidate (incumbent Malone-R)
• House 36—possible candidate (incumbent Dollar-R)
• House 37—confirmed candidate (incumbent Stam-R retiring)
• House 38—confirmed candidate (incumbent Holley-D)
• House 39—confirmed candidate (incumbent Jackson-D)
• House 40—still looking (incumbent Avila-R)
• House 41—possible candidate (incumbent Adcock-D)
• House 49—confirmed candidate (incumbent Pendleton-R)
• Senate 14—still looking (incumbent Blue-D)
• Senate 15—possible candidate (incumbent Alexander-R)
• Senate 16—still looking (incumbent Stein-D retiring)
• Senate 17—confirmed candidate (incumbent Barringer-R)
• Senate 18—confirmed candidate (incumbent Barefoot-R)

The final lineup will be solidified by mid-December, when all the candidates are expected to file en masse at the Wake County Board of Elections office in the expectation of generating some media attention. In the meantime, if you are interested in helping out with any of these campaigns—or would like to explore running yourself on the Libertarian line for any of the seats for which we don’t yet have a confirmed candidate—please click here.

“There’s a wasted vote problem that we have, and it’s not the one you’re thinking of,” commented Libertarian Party chair, Nicholas Sarwark. “Every day there are people out there who are not libertarians yet, who get to the point where they’re fed up. They’re done. They’re not going to vote for a Democrat or Republican ever again. No more! And they walk into that voting booth, and they pick up that ballot, and they want to vote for a Libertarian…and there’s no Libertarian there. That is a wasted vote.”

2016 is critical for the Libertarian Party of North Carolina because we need to turn out at least 2% of the vote statewide for our gubernatorial candidate to remain on the ballot through 2020. And there are other things we need to do now here in Wake County to further that effort, as well as to get the most out of our opportunity to advance the cause of liberty in 2016. To learn more about—and help with—that, please click here.