The Libertarian Party of Arkansas (LPAR) is the Arkansas affiliate of the national Libertarian Party (LP). In the 2010s the party saw increased support in federal races due to a lack of Democratic candidates contesting those races.

History

In 2002 members of the party petitioned to place Amendment 3, a ballot initiative that would have eliminated taxes on food and medicine, but it was overwhelming rejected by 61% to 39%. The sales tax on food was later phased out through the passage of a bill.

They first achieved official party status to run candidates for office in the 2012 election. They have fielded a candidate in every general election since. They have had continuous ballot access since 2012.

In March 2019 the party filed a lawsuit to challenge the move from requiring 10,000 signatures to nearly 27,000 (3% of the total votes cast in the state’s last gubernatorial election) for whole-ballot access. By June 2020 the Eighth Circuit court had ruled the change likely unconstitutional.

Electoral performance

Presidential Year Presidential nominee Votes Change 1980 Ed Clark 8,970 (1.1%) 1984 David Bergland 2,221 (0.3%) 0.8% 1988 Ron Paul 3,297 (0.4%) 0.2% 1992 Andre Marrou 1,261 (0.1%) 0.3% 1996 Harry Browne 3,076 (0.4%) 0.2% 2000 Harry Browne 2,781 (0.3%) 0.1% 2004 Michael Badnarik 2,345 (0.2%) 0.1% 2008 Bob Barr 4,776 (0.4%) 0.2% 2012 Gary Johnson 16,276 (1.5%) 1.1% 2016 Gary Johnson 29,829 (2.6%) 1.1% 2020 Jo Jorgensen 13,133 (1.1%) 1.6% 2024 Chase Oliver 5,715 (0.5%) 0.6%

Senate Class II Year Senate nominee Votes Change 2014 Nathan LaFrance 17,210 (2.0%) 2020 Ricky Dale Harrington Jr. 399,390 (33.5%) 31.4%

Senate Class III Year Senate nominee Votes Change 2010 Trevor Drown 25,234 (3.2%) 2016 Frank Gilbert 43,866 (4.0%) 0.7% 2022 Kenneth Cates 28,682 (3.2%) 0.8%

Gubernatorial Year Gubernatorial nominee Votes Change 2014 Frank Gilbert 16,319 (1.9%) 2018 Mark West 25,885 (2.9%) 1.0% 2022 Ricky Dale Harrington Jr. 16,690 (1.8%) -1.1%

House Year Number of candidates Votes Change 2012 4 37,987 (3.7%) 2014 4 66,055 (8.0%) 4.3% 2016 4 196,512 (18.4%) 10.4% 2018 4 19,625 (2.2%) 16.2% 2020 2 20,645 (1.8%) 0.4% 2022 3 25,331 (2.8%) 1.0% 2024 2 21,668 (1.9%) 0.9%

See also Political party strength in Arkansas List of state parties of the Libertarian Party

References

External links Libertarian Party of Arkansas