Liberal Party of Pennsylvania

Not to be confused with Keystone Party of Manitoba.
Liberal Party of Pennsylvania
ChairmanSteve Scheetz
FounderGus Tatlas, Jenn Moore, Steve Scheetz, Nicole Shultz
FoundedApril 2022; 2 years ago (April 2022)
IdeologyLibertarianism
Classical liberalism
National affiliationLiberal Party USA
Website
keystone.party Edit this at Wikidata

The Liberal Party of Pennsylvania is a third party in Pennsylvania founded as the Keystone Party of Pennsylvania in 2022, rebranding to the Liberal moniker in 2024,[1] with a focus on political solutions through the electoral process and classical liberalism.

Keystone Party

Establishment

The party was founded by members of the Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania who felt the Libertarian Party was "veering too hard to the right".[a][3] The party's first chairman was the Chairman of the York County branch of the Libertarian Party, Gus Tatlas.[4] The Keystone Party was founded in April 2022 with the stated goal of bridging the gap between the two main parties in the state and to better represent issues relevant to Pennsylvanians.[5][6] Instead of building their party on divisive rhetoric, Keystone Party leaders purport to seek to build an inclusive dialogue of political issues Pennsylvanians can agree on like governmental reform, fair elections, social and criminal justice reform, individual rights and taxation.[4] There had previously been a call to form a "Keystone Party" in 1912 among various Democratic Pennsylvania Representatives for the 1912 United States elections due to the stranglehold that Political Bosses had over the state party, although, ultimately, the split never occurred.[7]

2022 election in Pennsylvania

Joe Soloski's (left) and Nicole Shultz's (right), the Keystone nominees in 2022, campaign logos.

The party's candidates received ballot access on August 1 for the 2022 Pennsylvania elections by receiving more than 5,000 signatures of registered voters.[3]

Their candidate for the 2022 United States Senate election in Pennsylvania was Dan Wassmer.[3] Wassmer is a lawyer originally from Nassau County, New York, but now lives in Pike County. A former Libertarian, he was the Libertarian candidate for Attorney General in 2020. He received 25,808 votes or 0.5% of the electorate placing him in last place among options on the ballot.[8]

Their candidates for the 2022 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election were Joseph P. Soloski for Governor and Nicole Shultz for Lieutenant Governor.[3][9][10] Soloski is an accountant from Centre County and former Libertarian. He ran for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, District 81 in 2016 and in the 2020 Pennsylvania State Treasurer election both as a Libertarian. He initially sought the nomination from the Libertarian party, but withdrew and joined the Keystone party.[11][12] Shultz is another former Libertarian. She originally ran as a candidate for the Libertarian nominee for Lt. Governor, withdrew, and announced her candidacy for the Libertarian nominee for governor. Upon losing that election she joined the Keystone party and successfully sought their bid for Lt. Governor. She is an auditor from Windsor Township, York County, Pennsylvania and had been the Pennsylvania Libertarian Party's treasurer from 2021 to 2022.[13][14][15] Soloski and Shultz's ticket got 20,036 votes or 0.4% of the electorate. Like Wassmer, this put them in last place for candidates on the ballot.[16]

The party also stood two candidates for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in district 93 and district 104 respectively.[17] In district 93 Keystone candidate Kristine Cousler-Womack received 887 votes, or 3% of the electorate falling behind both the incumbent Mike Jones and his Democratic challenger Chris Rodkey.[18] In district 104, Keystone candidate David Kocur received the best showing of the party in terms of percentage. He received 4,838 votes or 29.5% of the electorate, falling behind Democratic candidate Dave Madsen.[19][20]

Post 2022 election

MarchOnHarrisburg

Party founder and leader Gus Tatlas voiced his support for the bi-partisan MarchOnHarrisburg movement, led by Rabbi Michael Pollack, on November 27, 2022. The movement seeks to implement legislation that would result in a "gift ban" to outlaw the ability for members of the Pennsylvania General Assembly to receive "gifts" in exchange for voting a certain way on bills.[21]

Dauphin County lawsuit

On January 23, 2023, two members of the Keystone party sued Dauphin County for violating their first amendment rights. The two members of the party, Dave Kocur, the party's candidate in the 104th district, and Kevin Gaughen, a former Libertarian who was elected auditor of Silver Spring Township in 2021 and member of the party board,[22] were told that they must immediately cease collecting signatures and vacate from Fort Hunter Park by Dauphin County Parks and Recreation director Anthea Stebbin alongside two security officers in June, 2022.[23] The County stated in their defense that when they purchased the land which would become the park in 1980, one of the clauses of the deed was that no political activities would take place on the property. The pair argued that since it is public parkland, that the clause of the deed is unconstitutional and that the County government shouldn't be allowed restrict First Amendment rights based on clauses of deeds. The pair's legal team, the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), cited a 1966 Supreme Court case, Evans v. Newton, which states that any local government's property-conveyance restrictions must comport with the Constitution.[24] The county was noted as being unusually confrontational on the issue by the American Civil Liberties Union. The County called FIRE's legal notice a "threat" and refused to negotiate with either the defendants, their legal team, or the ACLU, forcing the issue to reach litigation.[25] On April 26, 2023, the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania found in favor of Gaughen and Kocur and ordered Dauphin County and Stebbin to end the unconstitutional ban on political speech in Fort Hunter Park, as well as pay Gaughen and Kocur $91,000.[26]

Telford

John Waldenberger, a perennial candidate best known for his 2018 bid for the 53rd District switched from the Libertarian party after the Mises takeover and has become the Keystone Party's treasurer.[27][28][29] Waldenberger, a longtime citizen participant in the Telford borough council, has been leading an effort to remove Robert Jacobus, a Republican borough councilmen due to his staunchly anti-LGBT policies and is running against him in the 2023 election as a member of the Keystone party.[30][31] Waldenberger would go on to get last place with 497 votes, however, Jacobus lost his seat to a slate of Republican and Democratic challengers.[32]

National party

On April 26, 2023, party chairman Kevin Gaughen announced on X that the Keystone party would be taking steps to become a nationwide party by "creating bylaws, adopting a platform, selecting our national board of directors, forming new state affiliates, and possibly nominating candidates".[33] Gaughen stated that the new National Keystone Party would not be "Libertarian Party 2.0" and would differ from the Libertarian party in three main ways.[33] Firstly, the party would exclude "kooks" such as anarchists and extremists.[33] Secondly, the party will not focus on creating "bold" statements and hosting rallies, instead the goal of the party will be to run candidates.[33] And thirdly, the National Keystone party will be professional with "mature public messaging, competent leadership, and we intend to only nominate candidates who we believe will increase the goodwill of the organization".[33] The national Keystone Party never officially formed, as the party instead chose to affiliate with the Liberal Party USA in 2024 instead.[1]

Liberal Party

On March 12, 2024, the Keystone Party announced on X that they were rebranding as the Liberal Party of Pennsylvania and was joining the national Liberal Party USA, a coalition of Libertarian splinter parties that subscribe to classical liberalism and was formerly known as the "Association of State Liberty Parties".[1] The newly rebranded party announced that it would run candidates for Attorney General, Treasurer, Auditor General and United States Senate.[1]

Leadership

Chairmen

No. Name Tenure Residence Notes
1. Gus Tatlas April 2022 - ???? York Former Chairman of the Libertarian Party of York County
2. Kevin Gaughen ???? - ???? Former executive director of the Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania[33]
3. Steve Scheetz ???? - Former chairman of the Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania[citation needed]

Executive

Election results

2022 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election[34]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic
3,031,137 56.49% Decrease 1.28%
Republican
2,238,477 41.71% Increase 1.01%
Libertarian
  • Matt Hackenburg
  • Tim McMaster
 51,611 0.96% Decrease 0.02%
Green
  • Christina DiGiulio
  • Michael Bagdes-Canning
 24,436 0.46% Decrease 0.09%
Keystone
  • Joe Soloski
  • Nicole Shultz
 20,518 0.38% New
N/A Write-Ins 1,723 0.0% Nil
Total votes 5,366,179 100% Increase 7.05%
Democratic hold
2022 United States Senate election in Pennsylvania[8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic John Fetterman 2,751,012 51.25% Increase 3.91%
Republican Mehmet Oz 2,487,260 46.33% Decrease 2.44%
Libertarian Erik Gerhardt 72,887 1.36% Decrease 2.53%
Green Richard L. Weiss 30,434 0.57% New
Keystone Dan Wassmer 26,428 0.49% New
Total votes 5,368,021 100% N/A
Democratic gain from Republican
PA House election, 2022:
Pennsylvania House, District 93[18]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Republican Mike Jones 18,751 63.4% Decrease 36.6%
Democratic Chris Rodkey 9,956 33.6% Increase 33.6%
Keystone Kristine Cousler-Womack 887 3.0% New
Margin of victory 8,795 28.9% Decrease 71.1%
Turnout 16,401 100% Decrease 41.1%
PA House election, 2022:
Pennsylvania House, District 104[19]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Democratic Dave Madsen 11,563 70.5% Increase 26.4%
Keystone David Kocur 4,838 29.5% New
Margin of victory 6,725 41% Increase 38.2%
Turnout 16,401 100% Decrease 44.2%

Platform

The Party's officially endorsed stances are:[35]

  • Part-time Legislature. Lawmakers should be required to spend half the year living among their constituents.
  • Term Limits. Legislatures should have an undefined but "reasonable" term limit to prevent gridlock.
  • Anti-corruption. Seeking greater enforcement of anti-corruption efforts across the state.
  • Protection of Individual Rights. Curtailing government overreach and state authority into the lives of its citizens. Ending any government interference over the bodies of individuals. Right to bear arms under the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution. Total marriage equality.
  • Reduction of Overreaching Authority. Reducing the number of un-elected officials in the state and ending extra-legislative rule making.
  • Budget Balancing. The state should not spend more than it receives in revenue.
  • Election reform. Increasing ballot access to third parties. Having independent redistricting commissions. Implement a form of ranked voting and blanket primaries in Pennsylvania.
  • Criminal justice reform. Expungement of convictions for victimless crimes. Restoration of rights to convicts. Implement jury nullification in Pennsylvania.
  • School choice. Allowing parents to determine which school their children attend be it public, private, charter, or home schooled.
  • Environmentalism. Moving Pennsylvania towards green energy with no energy source being subsidized with tax dollars and allowing class action lawsuits against polluters.
  • Free Markets. Reducing the amount of government interference in the market to a minimum. Ending property tax in Pennsylvania. Ending land use regulations to their simplest forms.
  • Cryptocurrency. removing any and all government regulations on cryptocurrency.
  • Immigration. Reducing government inefficiency regarding immigration. Allowing "peaceful people" to seek citizenship.
  • Privacy. Protection of privacy as a fundamental right including banking secrecy laws.
  • National Guard. Removing any federal control over the Pennsylvania National Guard.

References

  1. ^ a b c d Evans, Jordan Willow. "The Keystone Party Rebrands as the Liberal Party of Pennsylvania, Announces plans to field candidates for 2024 state elections". independentpoliticalreport.com. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
  2. ^ Gaughen, Kevin (29 December 2023). "The LP of Pennsylvania Has Collapsed!". third party watch. Retrieved 6 February 2024.
  3. ^ a b c d Levy, Marc (2 August 2022). "Third-party candidates file to run for Pa. governor, Senate". www.witf.org. Retrieved 21 October 2022.
  4. ^ a b Delano, Jon (5 August 2022). "Pennsylvania's newest political party has candidates for governor and senator on ballot". www.cbsnews.com/pittsburgh/. CBS. Retrieved 21 October 2022.
  5. ^ Sweitzer, Justin (24 August 2022). "What is the Keystone Party? A City & State explainer". www.cityandstatepa.com. Retrieved 21 October 2022.
  6. ^ Shannon, Anne (12 October 2022). "Keystone Party of Pennsylvania hopes to attract voters who want to see change". www.wgal.com. NBC. Retrieved 21 October 2022.
  7. ^ Legislative Journal. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: Pennsylvania House of Representatives. 1912. p. 3248. Retrieved 27 May 2024.
  8. ^ a b "2022 Pennsylvania U.S. Senate Election Results". The New York Times. 8 November 2022. Retrieved 8 November 2022.
  9. ^ Meleedy, Jenna (7 November 2022). "Keystone Party candidate Joe Soloski campaigns on battling corruption, improving the economy". www.collegian.psu.edu. Penn State University. Retrieved 12 November 2022.
  10. ^ "New party names candidates". lowerbuckstimes.com. 19 April 2022. Retrieved 21 October 2022.
  11. ^ Homes Brown, Shaniece (June 8, 2021). "Pennsylvania's 2022 race for governor: What we know so far". WHYY-TV. Spotlight PA. Archived from the original on June 9, 2021. Retrieved June 12, 2021.
  12. ^ "WHYY candidate guide for Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware". WHYY-TV. October 23, 2020. Retrieved June 4, 2022.
  13. ^ The Porcupine (March 9, 2022). "LPPA Governor & Lt Governor Q & A". YouTube (Podcast). DropTent Media. Retrieved March 12, 2022.
  14. ^ "Meet Nicole". Nicole Shultz for Lt Governor of Pennsylvania. Retrieved March 27, 2022.
  15. ^ Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania (March 6, 2022). "We would like to thank the outgoing Executive Committee for their outstanding service to the party this year!". Facebook. Retrieved March 26, 2022.
  16. ^ "Pennsylvania Governor Election Results 2022". www.nbcnews.com. NBC. Retrieved 10 November 2022.
  17. ^ Siwy, Bruce. "The Keystone Party is Pa.'s newest political body. Here's what members are pushing for". www.goerie.com. Retrieved 12 November 2022.
  18. ^ a b "2022 Pennsylvania State House - District 93 Election Results". www.goerie.com. Retrieved 12 November 2022.
  19. ^ a b "2022 Pennsylvania State House - District 104 Election Results". www.jsonline.com. Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. Retrieved 12 November 2022.
  20. ^ Urie, Daniel (9 November 2022). "Democrat defeats Keystone Party candidate to pick up longtime Republican held seat". www.pennlive.com. Patriot News. Retrieved 12 November 2022.
  21. ^ Siwy, Bruce. "'We're going after the system': Why Pa. activists see Capitol reform opportunities in '22". www.goerie.com. The Times Publishing Company. Retrieved 28 November 2022.
  22. ^ Lancaster, Joe (31 January 2022). "This Libertarian Won His Local Election, but the Politicians He'd Audit Refuse To Seat Him". Reason. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
  23. ^ Brod, Robby (31 January 2023). "Two Members of the Keystone Party Sue Dauphin County for Stopping Them from Collecting Signatures". WDIY. NPR. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
  24. ^ Curcillo, Joseph A. "Dauphin County Letter to FIRE, October 19, 2022". Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
  25. ^ Brod, Robby (25 January 2023). "Third party candidate sues Dauphin County for preventing him from gathering signatures". WITF-FM. NPR. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
  26. ^ Kortepeter, Katie (26 April 2023). "VICTORY: After FIRE lawsuit, Dauphin County to lift ban on political expression in public park, pay $91K". Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression. Retrieved 6 May 2023.
  27. ^ Evans, Jordan Willow (15 August 2023). "PRESS RELEASE: Keystone Party Officer John Waldenberger to Appear on Ballot for Telford, Pennsylvania Borough Council Race". thirdpartywatch.com. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
  28. ^ Keeler, Bob (11 October 2021). "Seven candidates vie for four seats on Telford Borough Council". The Reporter. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
  29. ^ Esack, Steve (7 November 2018). "Moderate Republicans lose as Democrats pick up seats in Pennsylvania Legislature". The Morning Call. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
  30. ^ Stephens, Jenny (14 August 2023). "John Waldenberger To Face Off Against Right-Wing Extremist Robert Jacobus for Telford Council Seat". buckscountybeacon.com. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
  31. ^ Day, Gary L. (20 April 2023). "Bucks councilman's anti-LGBT crusade riles residents". Philadelphia Gay News. Retrieved 14 September 2023.
  32. ^ Worthington, John (8 November 2023). "Republican incumbents, Democratic newcomers take Telford Borough Council". The Reporter. Retrieved 15 November 2023.
  33. ^ a b c d e f Phillies, George. "National Keystone Party Forms". independentpoliticalreport.com. Retrieved 27 May 2024.
  34. ^ "Pennsylvania Governor Election Results 2022". www.nbcnews.com. NBC. Retrieved 10 November 2022.
  35. ^ "What Do We Stand For?". www.keystone.party. Retrieved 21 October 2022.
  1. ^ At this time, the Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania just had its leadership seized by the Mises Caucus[2]