Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania

Takeover by Mises Caucus

The Mises Caucus, a Paleolibertarian group with ties to the Ron Paul 2012 presidential campaign who described the Caucus as "the libertarian wing of the Libertarian Party,"^[5] staged a takeover of the national Libertarian party at the 2022 Libertarian National Convention on May 28.^[6] Concurrently, state branches staged takeovers of state affiliates and took control of 37 of the state parties. As a result, the parties of New Mexico, Virginia, and Massachusetts disaffiliated from the National Libertarian Party, and in late 2022 formed the Association of Liberty State Parties.^[7] In Pennsylvania, Rob Cowburn led the local Mises branch in taking over the party, however, older members of the state committee, and various county branch leaders, left the party in protest and formed the Keystone Party of Pennsylvania led by Gus Tatlas, the former leader of the York County branch of the party.^[8]

On December 28, 2023, former LPPA Executive Director Kevin Gaughen issued a press release titled "The LP of Pennsylvania Has Collapsed!" Gaughen denounced the Mises Caucus as the cause of the drop in the number of due-paying members from ~1,600 to 597 resulting in a 45.9% decline in total party income and that the party now has only $17,953 in its treasury, though it started with $47,377.92 during the takeover. He also pointed out that all Mises endorsed libertarians in the 2022 election lost, and that the only libertarians that were elected in Pennsylvania in 2022 were non-Mises old-guard. He also noted that before the takeover the party had 39 active county and regional committees covering 48 counties, which dropped to 20 active committees covering 22 counties post-takeover.^[9]

Federal elections

U.S. President

More information Election year, Vote percentage ...

Election year	Vote percentage	±%	Votes	Presidential candidate	Vice presidential candidate	Result	Reference
1980	0.7%	N/A	33,263	Ed Clark	David Koch	4th	[11]
1984	0.1%	0.59	6,982	David Bergland	James A. Lewis	4th	[12]
1988	0.3%	0.1	12,051	Ron Paul	Andre Marrou	4th	[13]
1992	0.4%	0.2	21,477	Andre Marrou	Nancy Lord	4th	[14]
1996	0.6%	0.2	28,000	Harry Browne	Jo Jorgensen	4th	[15]
2000	0.2%	0.4	11,248	Harry Browne	Art Olivier	6th	[16]
2004	0.4%	0.1	21,185	Michael Badnarik	Richard Campagna	3rd	[17]
2008	0.3%	nil	19,912	Bob Barr	Wayne Allyn Root	4th	[18]
2012	0.9%	0.5	49,991	Gary Johnson	Jim Gray	3rd	[19]
2016	2.4%	1.5	146,715	Gary Johnson	Bill Weld	3rd	[20]
2020	1.2%	1.2	79,380	Jo Jorgensen	Spike Cohen	3rd	[21]

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