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Libertarians' Candidate For Iowa Governor Hopes To Expand The Party

Michael Leland/IPR file
This is the first time Libertarians have had major party status in Iowa. They're running candidates in nearly three-dozen races this November.

The Libertarian candidate for Iowa governor acknowledges he probably won’t win the election, but he says this political campaign is an opportunity to expand the party in the state.  Council Bluffs business consultant Jake Porter says Libertarians are on the ballot in about three dozen contests this November, including statewide offices and all four congressional races. 

Porter says there are about 11,000 registered Libertarians in the state, and he’d like to see that number reach 20,000 in part by getting out the party’s message.

“That you should be able to do whatever you like as long as you’re not harming anyone else.” Porter told a small gathering of supporters at the Des Moines Register’s Political Soapbox at the State Fair Monday.  “You don’t have a right to harm your neighbors.  You don’t have a right to harm your neighbors’ property, but you should have the right to live as you wish.”

Porter says Iowa should help people with addiction problems, rather than sending them to prison, and should let local governments make more of their own decisions.

“And that’s whether it be hog confinements, whether it be education…I don’t think that the state government should be involved in all of these things,” he said.  “I don’t think they should be dictating to local governments.”

Porter also says the state should review all of its agencies and determine whether they’re essential. He says he is eager to talk more about his vision for Iowa, and is challenging Gov. Kim Reynolds and her Democratic challenger, Fred Hubbell, to a debate. 

Hubbell spoke at the fair on Saturday.  Reynolds takes her turn on the soapbox Tuesday afternoon.   

Michael Leland is IPR's News Director