(Des Moines, IA) In the 2018 Iowa Gubernatorial race, Marco Battaglia and Jake Porter have each filed their paperwork to appear on the June Primary ballot, the Libertarian Party of Iowa‘s first as a major party.
Iowa recognized the Libertarian Party of Iowa as a political party in 2016 after former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson received over 2% of the 2016 Presidential vote total in Iowa. This gives the party ballot access and allows the party to hold a primary election.
Porter is business consultant from Council Bluffs who ran for Secretary of State in 2010 and 2014. He also briefly served as the executive director of the Libertarian Party of Iowa after it achieved major party status in 2016. Battaglia is a businessman who is a lifelong resident from Des Moines. He previously served as the Polk County Libertarians’ Vice Chair.
“I’m thankful that I had help from around the state in acquiring signatures for ballot access”, said Battaglia, a lifelong resident of Des Moines, whom previously served as Polk County Libertarians’ Vice Chair.
“Filing this time as a major party gives us credibility. In the past, news media and polling sources have denied us access because we were ‘not on the ballot.’ Since we file in March and are guaranteed to be on the Primary ballot, it gives the Libertarian Party better access to media and polling,” Porter said.
In February, Porter defeated Battaglia 65 percent to 23 percent in the Libertarian Party of Iowa’s Caucus non-binding straw poll. The Libertarian Party is the only party to have conducted a caucus straw poll for Governor.
The filing period to run for the Primary for state and federal public offices in Iowa is from February 26 – March 16. The finalized list of all parties’ Primary candidates will be released on or after March 23rd.
