As the 2024 election season comes to a close, the Libertarian Party of Harris County reflects on our candidates' hard work, dedication, and the progress made toward offering voters a genuine alternative. This year, our slate of candidates put liberty and principle front and center, earning thousands of votes and amplifying the message of freedom and individual rights.

The Numbers

From presidential hopefuls to local representatives, each candidate carried the torch for liberty in challenging races. While results varied, every vote cast for a Libertarian is a step toward breaking the two-party stranglehold and advancing the cause of liberty in Texas and beyond. Here’s a snapshot of how our candidates performed in Harris County (Data from Harris County Clerk):

• CHASE OLIVER & MIKE TER MAAT (President/VP): Garnered 9,727 votes (0.62%) in a competitive 4-way race, finishing 4th behind Jill Stein.
• TED BROWN (Senator): Achieved 40,807 votes (2.63%), coming in 3rd in a 3-way contest.
• HAWK DUNLAP (Railroad Commissioner): Secured 33,258 votes (2.21%), placing 4th in a 4-way race under the Green Party candidate.
• J. DAVID ROBERSON (Supreme Court Justice): Earned 49,352 votes (3.28%), finishing 3rd in a 3-way race.
• KEVIN J. HAGAN (State Rep District 128): Received 1,932 votes (2.91%) in a 3-way contest dominated by Republican Briscoe Cain.
• LEE SHARP (State Rep District 137): Stood out in a 2-way race, amassing 5,988 votes (23.69%), the highest percentage among our candidates.

Each campaign faced unique challenges but also presented opportunities to educate, engage, and inspire. These results remind us that while the road to liberty is long, our journey is gaining momentum.

What went right?

What went wrong?

This election cycle highlighted several areas where we have room to grow. While our candidates brought enthusiasm and dedication to their campaigns, we identified opportunities to better support them by improving volunteer engagement and ensuring they have access to critical resources, such as website creation, hosting services, and campaign managers.

We also recognized the need for a more structured marketing funnel to attract and engage new candidates, volunteers, and voters, which will be a key focus in our future efforts. In this stage of the party's development, we have the chance to establish a strong base of institutional knowledge to drive success in future campaigns.

Our social media accounts are growing rapidly and showing great potential, but they are still in the early stages of development. With more consistent management, they can become a powerful tool for increasing visibility and engagement. Additionally, we are aware of broader challenges faced by the Libertarian Party nationwide, including membership declines and donor losses, but we view this as an opportunity to rebuild trust and unity while focusing on our shared values and goals.

The Path Forward

Starting in January, we will launch a tailored training program for candidates, focusing first on Justice of the Peace roles, with the aim of training several candidates by early to mid-2024.

To address the lack of support infrastructure, we will redesign our website by the end of Q1 to include an accessible hub of resources and compliance information for candidates, while also overhauling the volunteer sign-up process to enable proactive engagement, ensuring new volunteers are seamlessly connected with candidates and integrated into campaign efforts.

Also by the end of Q1, we will establish a marketing funnel that clearly identifies and engages new candidates, volunteers, and voters, leveraging the data we’ve gained to target races with the highest potential impact.

Our growing social media presence will be strategically managed to increase candidate visibility, with a goal of achieving a 25% follower increase by June 2024.

Finally, we will work with LPTexas and new community connections—such as podcasters, personalities, printers, and media partners—to rebuild trust and engage former members, aiming to increase our active membership by 15% within the next year. By building on what went right and addressing what went wrong, we are setting a clear path toward a stronger, more effective Libertarian Party in Harris County.

We are piloting many of these initiatives with a non-partisan candidate running for the Humble ISD School Board, using this campaign as a testbed to refine our strategies for resource allocation, volunteer engagement, and candidate support.

In Liberty,

The Libertarian Party of Harris County.