When one election is over, the next one has already begun. Operation ELECT-US is a program by the Libertarian Party to recruit as many candidates as possible for winnable local offices in 2009.
In odd numbered years, most elections are local and quite a few of them take place in the spring. For example, filing deadlines for local elections have already begun in Maryland, and take place in Illinois in December.
After our 21 electoral victories in November 2008, the Libertarian Party now boasts 207 elected Libertarians currently serving in office across the United States.
Operation ELECT-US aims to increase that number significantly!
There are many great reasons why you should consider running for local office in 2009.
The first, of course, is that you can win! You can be effective in changing local public policy in a Libertarian direction from the inside of the political system. Libertarian officeholders almost always distinguish themselves by being more diligent in their duties, more informed on the issues facing them and easier to work with. Quite often, we find that government employees who are most skeptical about working for Libertarian council members end up becoming their greatest supporters once they have had an opportunity to work with them directly.
Win or lose, you can put a human face on our ideas. Most people only warm up to our ideas when they know and like a person they know to be a Libertarian. Through their success, more voters start supporting other Libertarian candidates further up the ballot because they have come to trust you as their friend and neighbor.
Besides making friendships, which will serve you well even after the election, your campaign will put Libertarian ideas on the local public policy agenda. You will have a prominent role in the local political debate for as long as you want, just by running for office.
We take pride in the fact that we are ordinary citizens who want to positively change our government and push public policy in a Libertarian direction. And, if you are eligible by law to hold office and care about your community, then you are qualified!
If you'd like to run for office, start your campaign by clicking the button below and filling out your information. We'll get back to you promptly to help you kickstart your campaign for office in 2009.
Whether you can run or not, please make a contribution
to Operation ELECT-US. Our goal is to raise $200,900 on the internet
for the 2009 campaign season. We will use that money to provide as
much support as we can to our hundreds of Libertarians running for
winnable local offices throughout the course of the year.