On September 14, Congressman Andy Harris of Maryland’s First District said he would not participate in a general election debate with his Democratic opponent, Heather Mizeur, unless the third candidate in the race, Libertarian Daniel Thibeault, is also included.
Harris is Maryland’s only Republican member of Congress.
That’s something you never hear often. I am happy a minor party is invited.
Right. I would see this if a Republican wanted a Green included, were there a race stacked up as R/D/G, but inviting a Libertarian is different.
HARRIS FOR PRESIDENT!
(Yes, just kidding.)
How refreshing and fair of this Congressman. Or so it seems.
Perhaps someone (in Maryland) who is more familiar with this unusual situation can explain if there are likely ulterior motives in play.
Here in MO I’ve occasionally gotten major-party candidates (some in high-profile positions) to reveal to the media &/or ask debate sponsors that they’d be willing or prefer that all candidates (minors) be in on an upcoming debate. But NEVER has a major candidate declined to participate in a debate unless a minor is included.
The highest profile example of this was a few decades ago when I successfully prodded US Senate icon John Danforth to say to some press and to debate sponsors (PBS affiliate TV9) that he would have no objection to debating his scheduled Democratic opponent AND the excluded Libertarian candidate (Jon Guze). TV9 said no.
No TV nor radio outlet ever included a minor here after a Dem or Repub so spoke to the event’s sponsors or moderator, BUT on occasion the moderator would take a few moments at the beginning and end of the broadcast Repub-Dem debate to tell the audience that there is one or there are two other minors in the race though not included now.
As I have said before, I think that Libertarian candidates draw as many, if not more, votes from Democrats than Republicans.
I think Andy Harris gets that.
Andy Harris has a safe seat in any event.
Thus is a nice change for an elected official.
Andy Harris has always been good on ballot access and debating with minor party candidates in Maryland.
Kudos to Congressman Harris for his position of including the Libertarian candidate. I hope a debate occurs.
There has to be a motive for why Harris wants to have the Libertarian included. The last time I remember someone from the major parties wanting a 3rd party candidate included in such a manner was the 2010 Massachusetts US Senate Race, where the Democrat wanted independent libertarian Joe Kennedy included to point out he was not a member of THE Kennedy family, especially in terms of ideology.
The Republican and Libertarian should debate, and the satanic leftist dimocrat should be excluded. It would be even better if the dim was kept off the ballot too.
Interesting side not, the Joe Kennedy in Massachusetts who ran for US Senate in a special election in early 2010 to fill a vacancy after Ted Kennedy died the previous year, was actually adopted, so his birth name was not Kennedy. I don’t think he even had any Irish ancestry.
@Andy:
It is also interesting to note that the Joe Kennedy that ran in 2010 never bothered to get the formal endorsement of the Libertarian Party, and ran on his own “Liberty” label.
Also, in Massachusetts, when Mitt Romney ran for Governor, he invited all the listed candidates to join the debate, including the Libertarian candidate, Carla Howell, and the Green candidate as well.
Actually, I think Joe Kennedy did get the endorsement of the Libertarian Party, and I know he was a Libertarian Party member. The reason he ran under the Liberty Party label was because at the time, the Libertarian Party had major Party status, which they got by getting 3% or more of the vote for a statewide office in the previous election, and in Massachusetts the petition signature gathering actually becomes more difficult when your party has major party status, as even though the number of signatures required for each office remains the same, for major party candidates, only people registered to vote under the party’s named, or people who are registered to vote as non-partisan, which is known as being registered unenrolled, as in not enrolled in a political party, can sign the petition, whereas for candidates running under the banners of unrecognized parties, or as independents, any registered voter can sign their petition.
@Andy
You may be correct about that. It’s one of the ways that the election law in Massachusetts disadvantages ballot qualified minor parties. I seem to recall that Maine, which has a similar requirement, was sued by the Libertarian Party over this issue.
Anyway, it shows that the ballot access restrictions on qualified minor parties can be somewhat evaded with alternative, creative labeling.