The state canvass of votes was recently completed by the Iowa Secretary of State’s office.

With the official tally of votes in, the Libertarian Party has officially lost its major political party status, having less than two-percent of the total number of votes cast for their gubernatorial candidate in Jake Porter. Despite the fact the Secretary of State’s office reports that the total voter turnout was a record for a midterm election in Iowa with over 1.3 million ballots cast, not enough were for Libertarians to achieve the needed two-percent of votes to keep their major party status.

Greene County Attorney-Elect Thomas Laehn, who ran unopposed and was elected to the highest partisan office in Iowa as a Libertarian, says the party need to have a different strategy to gain better footing in the political sphere.

“Cultivate leaders at the local level in our city and county governments who can then run for higher office in the future. Who then, four years down the road or eight years down the road, can run for governor, attorney general, secretary of state. After developing their skills and leadership abilities at the local level.”

He adds that the party should also have candidates run for state offices, but there should be more of a push at the local level. Laehn says the Libertarian Party can regain major party status during the 2020 presidential election, if the Libertarian presidential candidate receives at least two-percent of the votes cast in Iowa.