A Kentucky Libertarian, David Patterson, has announced his intention to win the party’s U.S. Senate nomination for 2014 and to appear on the ballot. If he gets the required 5,000 signatures, he will be the first minor party or independent candidate to have petitioned onto the statewide Kentucky ballot in a midterm congressional year since 1978. The American Party had petitioned in 1978 for a U.S. Senate candidate.
Kentucky requires a party to receive 2% for President, to obtain qualified status. The only minor parties that have met this threshold in Kentucky in the last 80 years are the American Party 1968-1972, the Anderson Coalition Party 1980-1984, and the Reform Party 1996-2000. Because the qualification standard is rather difficult in practice, most of the time there are no qualified minor parties in Kentucky; and as a result, few minor party candidates, especially in midterm years.
The Kentucky Libertarian Party has only twice had a candidate for U.S. Senate on the ballot. Those two instances were in 1992 and 1996, and both times, the candidate’s name was listed on the same petition as the party’s presidential candidate, so there was no extra petitioning work in those years.
Each election is NEW.
SOOO very difficult for the SCOTUS morons to understand ???
Thus – EQUAL ballot access tests for ALL candidates for the same office in the same area.
Does Kentucky allow for candidate substitution for US Senate on the petitions?
Kentucky allows substitution for president and vice-president. The state has never ruled on whether substitution for other office will be allowed.
So… the LPKY would challenge Rand Paul? I think that is GREAT!
No, Rand Paul’s seat was up in 2010. The 2014 election involves the seat held by Mitch McConnell.
Better yet!
We are being told that substitution only works for President. Meanwhile, we are also told that there’s nothing really in law that allows or disallows Presidential substitution.
We have about 3300 registered Libertarians at this point. We’re hoping to capitalize on those Libertarian registrations to obtain the majority of required signatures door-to-door, whoever our candidates may be, and at whatever level.
I was at the event where he announced his candidacy. I was a fan of his speech. Hopefully we Greens can get a candidate fit to run in this race.
Kris – Please contact me when you get a chance. I can’t find you on facebook.
Didn’t the AP nominee in 1972, Congressman John Schmitz, get over 2 percent of the vote in Kentucky? I remember when the first votes were released statewide for Kentucky (1 percent)and he was getting more votes than McGovern!!
The only thing that matters is the percent of the popular vote, within the confines of the state, for president. My statewide run for State Treasurer in 2011 garnered 4.62% of the vote, statewide. But only the presidential race matters, in KY law. Johnson obtained 0.95% of the state’s popular vote in 2012, 1.05% short of the required 2%.
No, Schmitz just got 1.6% in Kentucky. And surprisingly, in 1948, Strom Thurmond also failed to get 2% in Kentucky.
This is great news!!! Good luck David!!
THE COUNTRY & THE CONSTITUTION MUST COME FIRST: I made a post the other day of my intent to remain where I am POLITICALLY, to vote against the current outdated non Constitutional Compliant Senator Mitch McConnel, in Primaries in the State Of Ky., THEN RE-REGISTER LIBERTARIAN! I still intend to vote for Matt Bevin, for this reason. He at least believes in the Constitution! However if you get a Libertarian on the Ballot,(Game Change!) or Convince Matt Bevin who is a Constitutionalist, as I am I will gladly support, Him but only if switches TO lBERTARIAN!, (For Sure)I will vote for the Libertarian Candidate For Senate, without question! And will encourage any I know to do the same! This Country must be returned to (THE PEOPLE!)AND THE CONSTITUTION FOLLOWED AS THE ONLY LAW OF THE LAND! END OF STORY!
Respectfully, Mitch Pelley,
DEAR SIR, OR MADAM, CAN I ADD MY SIGNATURE TO GET DAVID PATTERSON ON THE BALLOT? CAN I DO SO WITHOUT CURRENTLY BEING IN THE LIBERTARIAN PARTY? WILL GLADLY DO SO, IF I CAN!
RESPECTFULLY,
MITCH PELLEY,
Mitch, we’ll need every signature we can get, but we can’t start until November 6th. The law stipulates that we can’t add a signature until then. If you do facebook, you can find David’s campaign there. Otherwise, you can sign up for the LPKY monthly mailing list and we’ll be sure to keep our folks informed. We can use all the signatures we can get, and appreaciate all the help we can get.