Have you ever considered running for political office? Or volunteering to help someone else who is? Aside from time and energy, what would it take?

In 2016, the WakeLP aim to recruit a full slate of candidates for the 16 state General Assembly in the county. With 60 percent of Americans saying that a third party is needed and North Carolina voters increasingly registering unaffiliated (and Libertarian) rather than Democratic or Republican, we feel honor-bound to offer our fellow citizens another choice besides tweedledum and tweedledee on their ballots.

And, we want to help out the LPNC’s gubernatorial candidate…he or she MUST get at least 2% of the vote in 2016 to keep the party on the ballot for another four years. Every campaign we can mount in Wake County has the potential to pull that many more LPNC-friendly voters to the polls next November.

So if you’d consider being a candidate, 2016 affords you a great opportunity to advance the cause of liberty in NC, regardless of how “serious” a campaign you’re able and willing to mount. We're looking for—and will support—candidates who are prepared to invest varying levels of time, energy, and funds in their campaigns: 

• Choice Candidates—run to give voters a genuine alternative to the same old D & R candidates. This will require minimal time and energy and no fundraising beyond the filing fee ($207). We do ask candidates complete all surveys, questionnaires, and state-mandated paperwork (but we can help with that).

• Change Candidates—run in order to change hearts and minds one at a time. This will require a moderately active campaign, 4 to 10 hours a week of your time, and some modest fund-raising. We also also ask you attend candidate forums in addition to responding to all surveys and questionnaire and filing the requisite paperwork with the state.

• Challenge Candidates—run to seriously challenge your opponent and potentially win. This is a full-time campaign (30-40 hours per week of your time) with serious fundraising, a campaign manager, a marketing plan, and events.

And of course, even if you don’t want to run yourself, there will be lots of opportunities to help out in 2016 as a volunteer. Come learn more about what’s involved with all of three of these flavors of campaign. We will have three special guests: Ken Penkowski (LPNC Chair of the Strategy Committee) will provide overall perspective from the point of view of the state party, Brian Irving (WakeLP Secretary) will outline the tactical situation here in Wake County and talk to what candidates can expect in the way of support from the state and county parties and how volunteers fit into the picture, and experienced campaign manager Jason Joyner of NewFrame, LLC will focus what it takes to run as a competitive Challenge Candidate.

If you are coming, RSVP so we get the tables and chairs configuration right. And whether or not you can make it, please share this link or our Facebook or Meetup event pages with anyone you know who might benefit from this information. The formal program portion of the evening will commence at 7:30 p.m. in order to give everyone a chance to get settled and order food and drink, if desired.

Hosted by Brian Lewis, Chair, WakeLP.