Arizona Senate Libertarian Candidate Drops Out, Endorses GOP Candidate Blake Masters
Will it make a difference?
Arizona Libertarian Senate candidate Marc Victor dropped out of the race and endorsed Republican candidate Blake Masters.
What a crap move, though, doing this one week before the election. Supposedly those who said they would vote for Victor did not participate in early voting.
But still. Not cool, man, especially in a close race:
Marc Victor, the Libertarian candidate, and Mr. Masters spoke on Monday for a 20-minute recorded conversation that Mr. Victor is expected to publish, according to a person familiar with the conversation. Mr. Victor had made such a conversation a precondition to quitting, technically offering such an opportunity both to Mr. Masters and to Mr. Kelly.
“I found Blake to be generally supportive of the Live and Let Live Global Peace Movement,” Mr. Victor said in a statement. “After that discussion, I believe it is in the best interests of freedom and peace to withdraw my candidacy and enthusiastically support Blake Masters for United States Senate.”
Mr. Victor’s underfunded campaign had a chance to make more of an impact than some other third-party candidates this year, in part because he was onstage for the race’s lone debate. (He made waves in the appearance by suggesting the “age of consent” is something “that reasonable minds disagree on” and “should be up for a vote.”)
Cook Political Report and RealClearPolitics have the race as a toss up but give incumbent Democrat Sen. Mark Kelly the edge.
Trafalgar Group shows Victor polling at 2.7%, but 3.5% remain undecided.
There is no guarantee the libertarians or undecided will vote for Masters. I am a libertarian, and if the race does not have a libertarian, I generally vote Republican.
But I also live in Oklahoma, so it essentially does not matter!
However! The Independent voters will likely cause the change because 9% of them showed support for Victor. Masters already leads among Independents:
- Kelly: 43%
- Masters: 41%
- Victor: 9%
DONATE
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
If his name is on the ballot people will vote for him.
Some have and some will.
I held my ballot and will mark it for Blake Masters.
‘Not cool’ is solid political analysis because Victor’s name is still on the ballot, and some of the L faithful will still punch his name.
The rest of the Ls would rather cut out their liver and eat it rather the vote for a commie democrat. Will that be enough to get an R outside the margin of democrat cheating? Probably not, particularly so late in election season when early cheati, er, uh… early voting is already being counted.
Not cool.
“The rest of the Ls would rather cut out their liver and eat it rather the vote for a commie democrat.”
We are descendants of Jeremiah Johnson.
libertarians Have destroyed many an election and probably because of this late drop out, will give it back to the Dems
How ANYONE votes this way is insane
This is a common misconception. People of both major parties grouse that Libertarians help throw elections to the opposite party. LP surveys have supported this analysis. Marc Victor himself points out from his own experience:
Keep in mind that Victor’s goal in all this is not to help your party, but to help his. In the end, he ended up helping your party. Be grateful.
The marxist democrats do not ever vote for anyone else. Polls just tell lies.
The problem with the Libertarian party is that most of their voters are clueless about what being a Libertarian is supposed to be about. Every one I know describes themselves as “economically conservative but socially liberal”. That is just another way of saying that they don’t want to argue and don’t have strong feelings about any of the issues. Essentially a low-information voter.
Another problem is that the L party usually nominates a non-Libertarian making them spoilers with no hope of winning. The strong 3rd party candidates usually start their own party, like Buchanan and Perot. They actually bring real ideas into the arena. You could say that MAGA voters are largely people who should have voted for Buchanan and Perot. I voted for Perot both times because I don’t vote for liberals and Democrats, ESPECIALLY when they run as Republicans (The famous Pasadena Phil Rule).
My biggest problem with Libertarians is that they are ideological about libertarian ideas. They have many good ideas that should be adopted but their insistence that all regulation is bad is stupid. Free markets, like all games, need to operate within specific rules that everyone agrees to. A football game without rules is also known as a riot. Cheaters are punished. A concept libertarians just refuse to grasp. Genghis Khan operated in a free market too. Everyone was free to do what they wanted. And he stampeded his Golden Horde all over them. No rules.
Finally. A libertarian with half-a-brain.
Has a liberation ever won an election? So Is a libertarian vote just a protest vote every time?
Gary Johnson was elected Gov of NM. Thomas Massie, R Rep KY, and Rand Paul R SEN, KY are pretty much libertarian in outlook but understand libertarian candidates face a near insurmountable hurdle based on the two major political parties stranglehold on ballot access in almost every State.
I don’t believe any Libertarians have been elected to federal offices as Libertarians. A number have served in state legislatures (there’s currently one seated in Wyoming). In Arizona, a Libertarian (John Buttrick) was named to serve on the Arizona Superior Court by a Republican governor.
There is, of course, Ron Paul, who is a staunch libertarian and at one time ran as a Libertarian, but achieved federal office only under the banner of a different party; as well as his son, who just skipped over the futile part.
So statistically it can be rounded off to zero. Sorry Libertarians. I used to say I was one but then I decided to vote for a candidate that could win an election. Might as well join a party like the Republican Party. It’s what the MAGA folks. are doing and kick out some GOPe in the process. Let’s hope for the win in AZ. The McStain GOP needs to go somewhere else.
You asked if any libertarian had ever won an election. Now you want to be dismissive of the example provided?
I actually do agree with you about the prospects for 3rd party candidates of all stripes. Until ballot access issues are reformed to even the playing field then 3rd party candidates are extremely long shots.
The populist right is where the action is today as dissatisfied r, d and independent voters are flocking towards the movement. It isn’t a DJT cult of personality nor controlled by him. He was able to very effectively become the Avatar for the underlying dissatisfaction in the establishment. He may very well be able to do so again in 2024.
Yes you are correct. I did ask a question and you gave an excellent response.
Bernie Sanders the commie, and Ron Paul, the libertarian, both figured out it was easier to get elected on a gop or dem ticket and did.
I myself am thinking of running for office as a dem.
No person, as a candidate of the Libertarian Party, has ever won an election to an office of the Federal government.
You shouldn’t have even entered the race. And your name is still in the ballot. Jagoff.
The “Live and Let Live Global Peace Movement” ? Someone has hit the bong one too many times.
That would be John Locke. Victor is just repackaging it.
I’ll be surprised if this election is all that close. Kari Lake is going to win going away, I think she’ll drag Masters across the line.
Before this morning, I was less optimistic. Ten years ago, we had two Republican senators (crap ones to be sure, but still nominally Republicans). Right now, despite a strongly R legislature and an R governor, we have two D senators. The winch effect seems overplayed.
“I am a libertarian, and if the race does not have a libertarian, I generally vote Republican.”
In other words, you generally enable the Democrat to win.
Marc Victor has had a deal open to both Masters and Kelly for months: sit down, have a meeting of the minds over issues, where they both state their positions, Marc streams it live or records it to play back later publicly, and he drops out and endorses whichever candidate he feels is more compatible with libertarian interests.
Regardless of how you feel, Victor isn’t concerned with promoting either Democrat or Republican interests — he’s concerned with promoting Libertarian interests, and he decided this is the best — perhaps only — way for an L candidate to do that. Similar to how the Socialists never placed a candidate into a significant position, but eventually managed to shove every one of their planks into the Democrat platform and essentially take it over from the inside.
That it happened this late is due to brinkmanship. Masters and/or Kelly could have consummated this deal at any time over the past several months, but chose not to. Finally, thank heavens, it was Masters who broke down and did it. And as a conservative libertarian, I am confident this was the right matchup.
At the end of the day, it’s quite possible that Victor will have done more to elect Masters than McConnell has. Let’s hope.
By the way, that interview (a half hour) is now available here.
I had completely forgotten about this, excellent point.
McConnell and Romney hardest hit.
Don’t forget that little weasel, Ryan.
My apologies to weasels everywhere.
Run to get your position out there, and build standing with the support percentage, for example.
Throw in with the one with most similar agenda.
If you make the won / lost difference, so much the better. Now you’re a King-maker. And they wouldn’t be in without you. (This is why the crazies in the current US Screaming-D coalition have so much influence. The D’s would be out without them.)
This is actually huge, from my perspective. The full on Libertarians I know in this state do NOT tend to drop out to endorse other candidates. They are full on, “Damn the torpedos!” types that stick hard to the line, “If everyone voted their conscious…”
So for Victor to do this at all, is a major move. The fact that it happened at the 11th hour, the day early voting starts, while not ideal is still a major shift for Arizona. It would have been nicer 2, 3 weeks out but still a MAJOR concession from a Libertarian who usually are bent on “a pox on both your big government houses”.
To be honest, the “damn the torpedos” types are furious with Victor (search for Dave Smith). I say, let ’em be. I think Victor has his finger on the pulse of the only true leverage the LP can be expected to exert for the foreseeable future.
In NY State, they let you vote — when they let you vote — on multiple party lines. So one candidate may be listed for the Screaming-D’s, the progressive family whatever, the greens, whatever.
I actually like this arrangement. It has allowed me to throw a vote to the opposition candidate who stands a chance, *without* actually throwing a vote to either corrupt most popular party.
There, I said something nice about NY State government. In other news, today’s forecast is sunny, with a chance of pigs.