Libertarians Focus on Becoming Major Party in Florida

After Adrian Wyllie took 4 percent in the Florida gubernatorial earlier this month, the state Libertarian Party is looking to expand and become a major party.

Danielle Alexandre, who was Wyllies campaign manager, sent out an email to supporters late on Wednesday focusing on the future.

Our team has been working since the election on some exciting new initiatives and projects. Liberty needs a voice in Tallahassee and it is upon all of us to ensure that it gets there, Alexandre wrote. We have devised an approach that works on both sides of the political spectrum. One aspect will be through the Libertarian Party of Florida, the other will be to go directly to Tallahassee with our message. These are both desperately needed to interject some common-sense solutions into our government but also change the landscape for future principled candidates.

This election showed that some of the barriers known to third-party candidates can be broken through, but it was not enough, Alexandre added. While we were ending the media blackout and the campaign was making history in fundraising and support, the inclusion into the debates was critical.

This is why Adrian and our team has started the 5 percent project, Alexandre continued. In the state of Florida, a party whose registration numbers make up 5 percent of the voting public is considered a major party. That would mean that the Libertarian Party of Florida would be seen on an even playing field with the Republicans and Democrats. Our candidates will have to be included in the debates, in the media coverage and will be listed with every county supervisor of elections office the same as the other two. In Florida, it will no longer be a two-party system but a three-party system.

Alexandre urged supporters to join the party and looked at Wyllies new work as a lobbyist for the Liberty First Network.

While we are building for the future, we must keep our voices heard in Tallahassee. That is why Adrian has joined the Liberty First Network as the newest lobbyist working toward a better Florida, Alexandre wrote. I know it's hard to think of a lobbyist doing something positive at all. but the Liberty First Network has been on the forefront on many of the same issues that we built this campaign on. Real ID, property rights, Common Core are all issues that the Liberty First Network has been advocating for the people of Florida and against the cronyism that has become rampant."