The Indiana Libertarian Party is already looking to build momentum for the 2018 elections.
Because there are no elections in 2017 in Indiana, the party will have an off-season to reorganize, said Rodney Benker, vice chair of the Libertarian Party of Indiana.
“This gives us the opportunity to do some major retooling and work on national outreach,” Benker said.
Though the Indiana Libertarian Party did not win any major statewide races, there is hope for the future, said Margaret Fette, secretary for the Monroe County Libertarian Party and outreach director for the Indiana Libertarian Party.
Libertarian presidential candidate Gov. Gary Johnson-R NM received 4.9 percent of the vote in Indiana, or about 130,000 votes. This is about an 80,000 vote increase from 2012, the first year Johnson ran for president.
“Everyone who supported him should feel really proud of this,” Fette said.
The governor’s race was more contentious than the Libertarian Party had expected, Fette said.
Governor-elect Lt. Gov. Eric Holcomb-R won with 52.93 percent of the vote, or about 957,000 votes. Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Rex Bell obtained 1.34 percent of the vote, or about 25,000 votes.
Despite not winning a major election, the Libertarian Party continues to appeal to many Americans because of their focus on the individual, Benker said.
Fette said Democrats want to tax everyone. She added, the Republicans “aren’t too bad,” but they want to make religion a part of government and control what Americans are doing with their personal lives.
“It isn’t necessary, and I wish they’d knock it off,” Fette said. “I think there are a lot of people out there that are looking for something outside of what the two parties have to offer.”
Fette said the Monroe County Libertarian Party is “low-key” because it faces two primary struggles. First is overcoming the two party system, and second is finding strong Libertarian candidates to run for office.
It is unlikely the Libertarians would win in a three-way race because so many people vote straight ticket. The state Libertarian Party will look for races in which either one of the major parties has given up hope of winning, said IU senior Brandon Lavy, youth outreach director for the Bell campaign.
“This presents a real opportunity for Libertarians’ candidates,” Lavy said on Libertarians running in 2018 or 2020.
Most of the members of the local party are also small business owners working long hours and putting most of their energy into their business, so they do not have time to actively participate with the party or run for office, Fette said.
She added, Rex Bell, owner of Bell Contracting, proved it could be done, but he had a large team of people working alongside him, which allowed him to balance owning a business while running for office.
However, most regular people do not have this kind of staff or funding. Also, finding someone with the passion to run is a struggle for the local party. In order to win in 2018 or 2020, the Libertarian Party is going to need the right kind of candidate — someone with time, passion and name recognition, Fette said.
The candidate would also likely need to campaign full time, so they would not be able to work a job, so some kind of sustainable income coming in would be beneficial, she said.
Many potential candidates are turned off from running because they are regular people who do not want to be in the spotlight, she said.
“It turns your life into a fishbowl,” Fette said.
The only way for the Libertarian Party to continue to grow is if they start winning elections so they can prove to the people that they can govern, Fette said.
“It’s going to be really hard until we win,” Fette said. “Until they can see what we can bring to the table, it’s going to be really tough.”
