What role do Libertarian candidates play in close races? In November, Kalispell Libertarian Sid Daoud announced his run for U.S. Senate, entering an already competitive 2024 race.

Are Libertarians spoilers, or do we force candidates to adopt more libertarian positions in order to be more competitive? If we adopt the framing of the latter, then we are the opposite of spoilers – we are improvers. 

“I don’t think there’s ever been a more critical time for someone to be in the Senate who will be pushing for some fiscal responsibility and to temper our economy. We are in dire straits right now,” Daoud said.

Daoud is a Kalispell City Councilor for Ward 4 and is the chair of the Montana Libertarian Party. Born and raised in Montana, Daoud grew up in Great Falls before moving to the Flathead Valley in 2006. He has lived in Kalispell since 2009, where he and his wife raised their three children. Daoud is also a veteran of the U.S. Army. Considering his background and political experience, he seems like an ideal, serious candidate, and a far cry from the typical Libertarian paper candidate. This makes him all the more serious threat to the other two candidates, both of whom will be forced to campaign more aggressively if they wish to claim the Senate seat.

Most likely, a Libertarian candidate will result in fewer votes for the Republican candidate (Tim Sheehy or Matt Rosendale), but Daoud’s campaign seems to be taking more shots at John Tester. The LP Montana Twitter account claimed John Tester “has been voting in lockstep with the Biden administration for increased funding for the war in Ukraine“ and “last month, he voted against requiring a full audit of the Federal Reserve cartel system, which is responsible for the inflation ravaging this country”. Tester, who frequently pays lip service to words like “freedom” and “libertarian” has a terrible track record for war spending. From a Libertarian perspective, it makes sense to target Tester. He’s the incumbent and the worst candidate.

Montana and Wyoming seem like fertile ground for Libertarians to win elections. Just a few years ago, the Libertarian Party’s Frontier Project got Marshal Burt elected to Wyoming’s state legislature, and although the Frontier Project is currently on hiatus, it’s easy to see how it could be brought back to support someone like Daoud or another Wyoming candidate in a competitive race.

It remains to be seen who will become the GOP nominee in Montana’s Senate race. Matt Rosendale, a member of the House Freedom Caucus, is much more Libertarian than Tim Sheehy, and far less likely to support undeclared wars and inflationary spending. Is it wrong to hope that Rosendale will work harder to win the votes of his liberty-minded constituents – if he can come out on top of Sheehy in the primaries? I don’t think so.  But as of now, Libertarians have their own horse in this race, and we’re chomping at the bit to see if Sid Daoud can take out warhawk John Tester.  

Libertarians are not spoilers. We’re the refiner’s fire in the electoral process and everyone should vote gold.

The opinions shared here do not necessarily represent the official position of the Libertarian Party. These editorial articles have been submitted by Libertarians across the country, and featuring these topics does not represent an endorsement of the content therein.

The opinions shared here do not necessarily represent the official position of the Libertarian Party. These editorial articles have been submitted by Libertarians across the country, and featuring these topics does not represent an endorsement of the content therein.