No Republican ran for Attorney General of Washington state this year, so the only two candidates on the ballot were Democrat Bob Ferguson and Libertarian Joshua Trumbull. Trumbull carried two counties, both in northeastern Washington. He carried Stevens County with 52.79% and Lincoln County with 52.74%.
In my humble opinion, I think this race, and races like this, illustrate how the Libertarian Party moves forward and builds itself, particularly in a First Past the Post voting system. There were plenty of other races where one of the two old parties didn’t field a candidate. If a race is lacking an opponent, the LP should step in with a candidate. I think the best chances of success here would lie in deep blue or deep red states. The message to a voter in a deep blue state, for example, would be along the lines of, “The Republicans are so discredited here that they can’t ever hope to be competitive.’ Do you want the Democrats to have no opposition? We are a more credible opponent for the Democrats in this state, because we don’t have the same baggage here as the Republicans do, and are therefore, the best chance of giving them real competition. Join us.” The message in a red state would be the same, except swap “Democrat” for “Republican.”
Shared @ https://www.facebook.com/groups/736882696414329/
There are cities in Connecticut, like Hartford, where the Republicans have 3% of registered voters to the Democrats 72%. The Republicans sometimes don’t run candidates. But the Libertarians also do very poorly there, relative to the more rural areas. It’s the far left Working Families Party that becomes the competitive 2nd party in those places. The Hartford city council right now has 6 Democrats and 3 Working Families party members (because of guaranteed minority representation) and it’s been that ratio for years. So, from my observation of places that are crazily lopsided, it is more beneficial for a minor party to be seen as a more extreme version of the dominant party. In heavily Democratic districts where the Republicans don’t put up a candidate, the way for third parties to win is to run as Democrats on steroids.