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- [00:01]
A
Hello and welcome to the Mountain State Liberty cast. I am your host, Ty Ward. I am joined as recording in progress always by my co host, Taylor Big Dog, 13th District, Taylor Richmond. Hello, Taylor.
- [00:17]
B
Do you keep a list of all these nicknames you've given me? Just make sure you don't repeat any of them.
- [00:21]
A
Does it seem like I do? No.
- [00:25]
B
Morning. How are you, buddy?
- [00:27]
A
Doing? Well, it is mowing season, so as I've talked about on this podcast, have a mowing business and gotten full swing yesterday. I was supposed to start Monday, but it decided to rain cats and dogs here. So that got belayed and I started yesterday and it is going pretty well. The grass did in fact grow.
- [00:55]
B
Sun rose and the grass grew.
- [00:56]
A
Yeah. And so I'm back in my rose, back in my happy place. So we're in full swing. So just to, we're going to talk today about a subject that will make my life and your life a lot busier. So I'll let you go first. We, we talked about the convention and some, some of our goals, but. Well, you know, since we're talking about it, you could do a brief, brief, brief synopsis of what you said at the convention and we can talk about, talk about what some of the goals of the party are and then we could talk about what we're going to announce today.
- [01:35]
B
Yeah. So, you know, while we were at the convention a couple weeks ago now a little over a week ago, you know, one of the things that I said that we need to do as a party is just in general be more active. You know, my old quip of leave me alone and I'll leave you alone is a great philosophy. I believe in politics and life in general. But if we're going to actually affect change in our state, it's a terrible way for the party to run. And we've been trying to, you know, make some of those improvements over the years, but at least Will's term and my term as chair. But one of the things that I think we have to be a lot more cognizant of and a lot more active in is those quote, unquote, off cycle election. So for those that don't know, for us to maintain third party access on the ballot every election cycle, in the gubernatorial race, we have to run a candidate and they have to get over 1% of the, the popular vote during that, that cycle. And obviously we put a lot of effort and time and resources into finding that candidate, helping that candidate and doing just that. And we, we've been blessed that for the past two campaign election cycles that Erica Kolinich has taken up that charge and ran with it and got us over that finish line. But you know, there are elections that happen in between those every four year campaign. So it's important for us if we're going to show West Virginians that the Libertarian Party is serious about being involved in the dirty game of politics and affecting change, that we run candidates in every election cycle, not just the, the governor and those every four years when the governor's candidate is running as well. So I took the man a little leading by example, for lack of a better phrase, but announced my candidacy for West Virginia State Senate. District 13. You know, where I live is kind of a unique spot in the geography of House and state Senate districts. Really kind of at a disadvantage to run in the House district that I live in based off of its kind of shape and geography, but living right outside of the greater Morgantown area. I live within West Virginia Senate District 13, which is probably at least from early polling results and speculation, going to be one of the most contentious elections here in West Virginia this fall. It cases a incumbent Republican, Mr. Mike Oliverio, who won his election four years ago to the State Senate by ousting a longtime incumbent Democrat, Barbara Slash Hour, in a very close race where he only won by less than 200 votes in a 36,000 vote race. He is being challenged by very popular John Williams, Democrat for the House District 80 here in the area, who decided to leave that seat and then run as the Democratic challenger in that race. And early polling actually gave a slight advantage to Mr. Williams in that race. So you know, I looked at the situation again as a need for the party to step up and step out and as chair to lead by example. But also that based on the voting records of particularly Mr. Oliverio, I think everyone would guess how Mr. Williams votes on most things. But Mr. Oliveria is just not a liberty focused, small government minded conservative Republican. In fact, he's a former Democrat who changed his party status earlier in the past few decades.
- [05:35]
A
Yeah, he's a Republican.
- [05:38]
B
Well, he's labeled as the rebel.
- [05:39]
A
That's what they are here. That's a Republican.
- [05:41]
B
Yeah, I think, you know, you see, look at how he votes. He's, he's a slightly less aggressive Democrat in terms of government involvement in things. And so yeah, it's, I definitely believe that the voters of The West Virginia 13th deserve an option that is liberty focused, small government minded, less taxes, less control over your life. And that's why I decided to run for State Senate and attempt to represent the greater Morgantown and Fairmont areas this fall.
- [06:14]
A
Yeah, that's awesome. And it's really interesting because the, obviously the Senate races are all across the state are a little bit more involved because they represent a larger area than the House districts. But you being in that area is, it's very interesting the dichotomy and how those districts work because like my Senate district, I don't even remember my senator's name. I have his face in my head. He's a little chubby guy. I can't remember his name now, but he, he's one of the ones that just kind of, there's no anything like you can't remember anything remarkable that he said or done or bills he sponsored or. And in the Senate that's kind of a. Something that stands out because almost every senator has their little moment and he's had no little moments. And so, you know, and I don't. And the, the, the ironic thing is Oliverio has been very similar. I mean his little moments have been basically proving that he's not a conservative, that those have been his moments. And so for, you know, somebody in your area and you know, I didn't go to wu, but I have lots of friends that did and I have people that live up there and, and most of the people, and I'm just going to be honest, most of the people I, I know that are, I'm friends with that moved to the Morgantown area after they got out of college or whatever are, you know, more progressive Democrat type people. And that area is kind of inundated, it being college town. It's not exclusive to Morgantown, but it's just got a little bit more, you know, it's one of the areas that's more populous and has a little bit more economy going on. So it's very, it's a very interesting dynamic in having, you know, a three way, three way race up there. And if we can, you know, work together and get the message out. The funny thing is is, you know, we like to say we're not, we're not, you know, Republicans, but you will be the I'm doing finger quotes conservative option in that area. And that's, you know, it's a very interesting juxtaposition to what people think about libertarians because libertarians, you know, have had a bad reputation across the country as, you know, the. We just want to every. Everything that's illegal that we want to do in our personal life, we want it to be legal. And you know, as anybody's listening to this podcast or paid attention to any of our, you know, campaign rhetoric and our political rhetoric on social media. That's not something that we're focusing on as a party. And you know, as if you want a, you know, fiscal, fiscally responsible, liberty minded person, you, you will be pretty much the only option up there. And that's the interesting thing. You can tell me if you agree or not. I mean, I. It's one of those situations where it's similar to the squad like AOC and Ilham and Omar at the national level that I've said for a long time, Democrats get stuff done and they believe what they say. And, and I think. Is his name John Williams?
- [09:23]
B
Yeah. Yep.
- [09:24]
A
John Williams. Like the composer?
- [09:27]
B
Yeah. Is that like the same guy?
- [09:29]
A
Yeah, it's the same guy. Well, cool. I'll vote for him. No, the. He. I think he genuinely believes what he says and he's been involved in some of the, you know, rhetoric that we had talked about on previous episodes. But that's, that's politics. But I, he genuinely believes what he says. And, and for me, when you have somebody like that in office, you may not agree with everything they say, but you know, when they say it, they mean what they say. And Oliveira is the type that you kind of don't really. It's like a amorphous, ambiguous principle stance of who really knows what he believes and he's going to go with the wins. And so I think it really is a two way race of principle between you and, and Williams and hopefully we can make it shake out that way.
- [10:22]
B
Yeah, I mean, I, I would push back just a little bit. I mean, having I know Mike somewhat, I definitely know John a lot better. And then I will agree that John definitely believes how he votes and, and what he says. I mean, I think when we mentioned again, Democrats, for the most part, at least the ones that we know are very altruistic. They care deeply about their constituents and their, their communities and their state. We just disagree on the means to the ends they want to get to. I mean, we all want to help people. We want people to, you know, we want, quote, unquote, social safety nets. We want, you know, people to have the ability to, you know, thrive and have good jobs and all those kind of things, but they believe that the government should be the mechanism to deliver that. And we know because we study economics and history for fun that that doesn't play out that way. In fact, generally those means are a significant drain on taxpayers and provide little to any results. And oftentimes create backward progress in a lot of regards. So. But John is very passionate. I would say Mike does believe what he says. I just think that Mike is John just going slower. You know, the old saying that we kind of mentioned is that Republicans or conservatives are just, you know, liberals doing the speed limit. And I think that's kind of how I look at Mike. I mean, he's, he very much for certain things. But again, we'll, we'll get there again down those same roads on the same means that John will just, you'll do it slower. Like they'll, they'll argue about how much state money should be, you know, dumped into public education or other things along those lines. So I think that's the significant difference who say all that. I'll agree that, yeah, I believe I am the more principled, fiscally conservative, small government candidate in this race that don't really have an option for. I mean, you know, one of the, one of the reasons, one of the significant reasons that put me kind of over the edge and made me decide, yeah, I'm definitely doing this is during the debates about the HOPE Scholarship. You know, Mike Oliverio was going on Facebook and asking people's opinions on caps for it in terms of either family income or this, the amount capping the amount that would be awarded to students. So in those kind of things, it's just like, you know, you claim to be a conservative, claim to be a Republican. And again we mentioned before, they'll run on libertarian principles. They'll, they'll propose, you know, Ron Paul. Small government answers to problems while they're campaigning, but then they go down and it's hard to distinguish them from the John Williams and the other Democrats in Charleston. So, yeah, that's, I mean, again, as a party chair and trying to lead by example is one of the reasons why I'm running. But another reason is I just think that the citizens of The West Virginia 13th deserve an option that is, you know, drastically different in terms of, you know, philosophy and principles. And, but as I say, for my campaign, but also pragmatic. Right. I mean, I think we know that you said make all these things illegal that we want to or make these things legal that are illegal. It's not going to happen in, in any near distant future in West Virginia, but we can actually do things like abolish certain taxes, reduce certain government agencies in their reach. So I think West Virginia is in the 13th deserve a candidate who's willing to not only say those things on the campaign trail, but if Elected do those things.
- [14:00]
A
Yeah. And that's the interesting thing about running for State senate is it is an opportunity to get more power than you would if you were running for a different office. And, you know, the focusing on what, you know, strategically we can do in our areas. And it's funny, and you can tell me if I'm wrong, but, you know, in our area, you know, I lived in Charleston for a little bit, it would have been easier for me to run for House of Delegates in Charleston than it would be for City council or county commission because ironically, those are more high profile races because, you know, Morgantown's not as big as Charleston. I get. Maybe it is. But, you know, there's, there's, there's significant, you know, power and influence that comes from being on Charleston City Council or Kanawha County Commission. And I'm sure it's the same for, you know, Monegalia county and Morgantown. So it's, it's funny because as Libertarians, we, we're trying to, as you said before, you know, spread out and get as many candidates as we have, but we've got to try to focus on races we think we can have a little bit of success in and get a little bit of influence. And, and, and as you said, and obviously everybody who runs should want to run to win. But I think your bigger influence there is going to be, you know, what I said before is being that, that influence on the conservative side of people in the Morgantown, Fairmont area and showing them that, you know, the Libertarian Party is an option if you live in an area like Morgantown and Fairmont. And it's a little bit different than the rest of the state because, you know, in my area there, there are a lot of conservative people and Republic, the Republican Party has had a stronghold here since before, long before the, the takeover about 10 years ago. But in your area, I'm sure there are a lot of disaffected, you know, conservatives that don't feel like they are ever representative. Representative, because like you said, you know, this is a recent, you know, takeover from a Republican senator and he's not even really a Republican. So having somebody that is saying the things that they think is an opportunity for them to not only have an option but say, hey, maybe I'm not or a Republican anymore. Maybe I am a Libertarian. So that, that's a, you know, it's as much a opportunity for us to promote the party and our ideals as it is to win a race.
- [16:39]
B
Yeah. I mean, one of the things that I'VE talked to a few folks about who have raised their hand to say, hey, I'm interested in running. Which race should I run in? I'm looking at this House district or possibly this, you know, state Senate or this and that. And one of the things I said, okay, you know, the realistic matter of fact is that we have limited resources, limited people and limited time. Right. So it's like, okay, well who's currently sitting in those positions and how do they generally vote if they're good? If you're looking at the House race, for example, if they're generally good on most issues in terms of small government, liberty minded, etc. And then you have the opportunity or the. You have your state senator who is like a Mike Oliverio who is willing to be a Democrat in, in sheep's clothing or whatever, then that's who we should be trying to, you know, effectively get out of office. The don't necessarily try to upseat a Republican who's good at something or if it's a Democrat, maybe they're whatever, it's county commission or something or whatever it is that's good on issues and that they're better in that position. So not to say we have to be strategic about it, but at the same time I do think we should focus on races where the candidate that or the incumbent that you could possibly run against is having the most negative impact on your community. In West Virginia it might be easier to run for county commission, but if you're a county commissioner, is doing a great job and is pretty libertarian on most things, then I would say forego that race and focus on the House of Delegates race where they're not as great on a major, you know, freedom of speech, second Amendment, small government, less taxes kind of issues. So as I mentioned, the geography of my House district is, is such that it would be really difficult. I joke that it looks kind of like the state of Massachusetts where it stretches westward towards Wetzel county and a lot of the rural part of the county here in Mont county. And then this little tail comes and grabs mine and my wife's like, neighborhood. So it's kind of funny. But you know, Joe Styler is the incumbent there and Joe's pretty good on, on most things. So you know what? Rocket run against him and try to set a decently, you know, fiscally conservative, small government minded Republican who or I can run against, as I see it, two Democrats who happen to be running for the same seat and one of them has an R next to their name.
- [19:20]
A
Yeah. So I guess that'll. That's a good segue to the other podcast host running for office. I'm running for the 15th district in the House of Delegates, which represents all of our own county and the southern portion of Wirt County. It's a little bit, well, it's completely different than, than your race in that my delegate is one of those delegates that has a pretty decent voting record. She's. There's a few things here and there that she's voted on which none of it ever surprises me just because she's not a libertarian and she's not super, you know, principled on liberty. And, and so the votes don't, don't really surprise me too much. And they're never, they're ones that were at this point with the, the demographics of the House. Her vote wouldn't have mattered either way in ones that I disagreed with her vote. So it's, that's not good, obviously, but it's not really. Like you said, it's. She's a good voting record generally. But in Roane county, it's. And it's Roane county, that's, that's the problem with some of these districts is we're about as close to being a one county district as any of them are. We have all of our own county, which includes Spencer and then part of Work county, which doesn't include the northern portion towards Parkersburg where most of the population is. So it's. They kind of used Roan county as a population base and then whatever else they needed to fill for parts of Work County. And I've spent plenty of time in, in Work county when I'm younger. I've got a few mowing jobs in southern Work County. And so the Democrats here aren't running a candidate. They almost always do and they almost always get destroyed by the Republican. But it's one of those situations where it was kind of a perfect storm. I had contemplated running for a county commission, one of the other, the only other partisan races that, that happen in our area. We don't have a city council and the Board of Education is nonpartisan. And I contemplated running for county commission, but there's two people running in my commission district that are, again, like you said, Taylor, they're decent people. They've got good heads on their shoulders. They're not libertarians, but I know both of them. They're both business owners. And their main principle is they want, you know, our area of the, the county represented, which hasn't really happened for a long time. And I'M like, like what. What's the point of me running? And it's, it's just it. I, I would probably would have put my name on the ballot just because. But it's in, in an area like mine, people do get offended by things like that, and I don't. Both of the people I know that are running as Republicans here, there's no Democrat running for kind of commission. So again, it's. The race is decided in the primary, basically. And I like both of them and they're both friends and I run a business and my family's livelihood comes first. And making enemies by putting your name on a ballot is. It doesn't help me in any way, and it wouldn't help the party if I don't get any votes. So lo and behold, the Democrats decide not to run a candidate in the House district. And as I've discussed here before, there's a lot of, you know, really disaffected citizens in, in Roane county with what happened here with the school system and seeing basically none of the benefit of what the legislature does coming to our area. One of our former delegates, Bob Ashley, I don't know if you know that name, but he was, he passed away last year. And he's. My wife is related to. To him through, you know, his, his wife is her second cous. He was. He was. Yeah, he was liaison for the governor's office under justice to the legislature. And, you know, one thing that I've heard a lot about him from legislators that knew him was his big thing was whenever they would be doing some sort of economic package or something about spending, he would say, what's in it for Roane County? And, you know, while you and I are like, you know, we don't want, we don't want money to be in it for anyone for our principled reasons. But him saying, you know, okay, well, I don't really. This is going to go either way, but what's in it for my constituents? You know, Mason County, Berkeley County, Northern Panhandle, all these, you know, if you're next to a river or next to an interstate, the legislature's focusing on those areas. But for places like Roane county, where we're just, you know, for lack of a better word, landlocked in between major thoroughfares for, for travel, what's in it for us? I mean, we're, we're paying taxes, too. There's lots of people here that pay taxes, net taxpayers running businesses and, and contributing. And we're seeing none of the benefit of it, our roads are crumbling like everybody else's, and we see none of the benefit. And while my delegate has a good voting record, she's one of the many that you. Even. Even when I go to the legislature and I say her name, people go, oh, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, they don't. There's not enough of them there for them not to know everybody's name. And so you go, oh, yeah, okay. And even when I talk to people are like, yeah, she's a real nice lady. Like, that's like the political campaign is. I'm a real nice lady. And I. And I am not. This is my. One of my goals. One of my goals, Taylor, in. In my campaign, because I think it's a little bit more advantageous is I don't plan on saying her name ever in my campaign because I don't think it's necessary. And I. And I do like her. I think she's a good person, and I think that she has the best of intentions. But her strategy of being a delegate is not what I would do as a delegate. I am not going to do whatever leadership says if I get elected. I'm not going to just sit back and, you know, appeal to authority. And then when a constituent asks me, why did you vote this way? Just parrot whatever leadership said which has been. That's been said to me is I. I'm. I'm in the know, you and I, Taylor, pay attention to this stuff, and we know what goes on and we pay attention to the minutiae. And, you know, when you're being fed what just what they've been fed and being told, I've been told, you know, we gotta vote on what's presented to us. And, you know, as we've seen in, especially from this last session, there is opportunities for delegates to use parliamentary procedure and at least try to get things through and their bills out of committee and be aggressive in how that works and not just sit back and wait. And obviously, you know, you've got to play the game and make good relationships, but that's something I think you and I both are good at, is you're making relationships with people we don't agree with. And that's. That's basically my goal is to. To be a representative of. Of, you know, Roanoke counties of somebody that's going to, you know, have. Give them a voice and make sure that, you know, God forbid, when we're making horrible decisions of spending taxpayer money on things we don't agree with, I can at the very least be the representative and saying, well, what's this going to do for Rona work county? What. What's what? Why am I voting for this? You, you sell it to me and then when I vote no, I can say, look, there's nothing in this for my constituents and that's an easy out. And you could say that's a cop out, but it's, it's an easy out for them that they give us is what does a, what does giving $300 million to a company in Mason county do for my constituents? It's too far for them to drive to the border of Ohio and West Virginia to. For a job. They're not driving from Spencer.
- [27:14]
B
There's.
- [27:15]
A
And not that I think it's again, obviously our principles. It's not the government's job to provide them with jobs here. But you know, there's so many small businesses here that they argue and I think I've said it on here, but I'm working on the, the wording of this but in the guise of, you know, fun alliteration of, you know. And I don't know if probably in Beckley you saw us a little bit, but every, every little McDonald's growing up, you'd go in there and see old men sitting around drinking coffee and solving the world's problems. Yeah. A lot of the conversations I've had with some, with a lot of people is you're either talking about how you got one over on the government and what you were doing or why the government's making your life harder. And my goal as a legislator would be to give them nothing to talk about, make their conversations boring in regarding to the government. And, and that I think that's your goal as well. But we, we want to be able to, when they talk about the government and legislature, it's oh, okay. Well, they didn't really get much done. They didn't really do anything. But that's good. They're doing things in the past that have made our lives easier. They've gotten out of our way. And it should be really boring to watch the legislature not sitting on pins and needles on, on what rights are going to take away or whether or not, you know, an easy win like a gun bill is going to pass or not. Those, it should be really boring watching the legislature. And, and that's, that's one of my goals is to be one of those people that help make that possible. So yeah, it's. And, and as you said, Taylor being the, the third party, I've got a two person race and it makes that a little bit easier for me. But ironically, it doesn't. Whether there's four or five or six in West Virginia, if you're not a Republican right now, it makes it really hard to run a race. And, but we've seen some upsets and you know, across the country, I think people are kind of getting sick of the MAGA movement falling apart. And I think, I don't know if you saw today there was a Mar. A Lagos district in Florida where Trump lives. The Democrat unseated the Republican and they're so, they're going. It was a special race. I don't really remember the details of it, but the Democrat won. So even in a place like Florida, which has been the red wave home base, yeah, you're seeing a lot of people just sick of it. And I think if people see I, I think in Roan county, it's the people who are going to vote are going to vote. I don't think they're going to stay home just because of what's going on. But if they have a candidate with a little bit of name recognition, I've got just a little bit of name recognition. But if we can make it about principle and not just a popularity contest, that's, that's one of my big goals. And just getting the, the Libertarian Party on the ballot is a huge win. There's never been a Libertarian Party candidate other than, you know, governor or senator on one of my ballots. So getting a local ballot with somebody's name that you might know is, is, is another goal. I mean, there's no downside to running a candidate in any of these races other than youth thinking it's a waste of time. And in some places it is a, it is a really big sacrifice to spend the, the money to get on the ballot and to run a race when you know you're not going to win. But I think, you know, I have an opportunity to, if, if there was ever time for a Libertarian to win a race, it would be the one that I'm running in. So I'm excited.
- [30:46]
B
Well, and, and Ty, I'll just say, you know, on behalf of the party, thank you for, for also stepping up and, and being one of the candidates this, this go around. I know we're obviously anxiously awaiting a few others, possibly announcing as well, based on conversations we've had at and after the convention. But, you know, you're one of the ones who stood up and actually, you know, was nominated there, so you've got that checkbox done. And I'LL just say this, and I don't know if this is your goal, but this is more just kind of in general for, for folks who are thinking about, you know, running because I've talked to a number of individuals who said, oh, I don't want to run this year. You know, it's just things aren't kind of ready yet, maybe in 2028. And what I would say is, you know, putting your to your point about the being on the ballot in Roane county, especially a little bit of name recognition and not having a Democrat this go around either. You know, this could be a chew the elephant's foot kind of situation, right, where maybe, you know, you get, you know, 25% of the vote or something along those lines in that race and they walk away with, you know, 65 or more percent of the other side. But you're priming the gears, for lack of a better phrase, in terms of possibly running again in, in 2028. Not just you, but the, the you and in general of these candidates or these individuals who are interested in possibly running in 2028. You know, while I would want you to put 110% effort or as much effort as you and I are going to put into these races, you know, for those individuals who are thinking about it, put your name on the ballot, go out and shake some hands when you're out about your community. You know, make a Facebook page, do some of the minimal stuff and get that name recognition so that come 2028, you've got a little bit more name recognition than you had before. This isn't going to be easy. You know, I mentioned in my, you know, announcement video that running as a third party isn't an easy endeavor. You know, these things are generally intended to keep the same people in and keep a lot of us out. So there's a lot of things you we have to do to kind of shift that dynamic. And it may be in a lot of these races putting your name on the ballot when you're not able to run 100% or even 50%, but having your name on that ballot when people go there and see, you know, below Republican or below Democrat or the third one on the right on the ballot, Libertarian, and then you run again in 2020 when you're a little bit more ready, got your ducks more in a row, then you're even more recognized than you were the first time or being a first time candidate. So I'm not going to pretend, and I don't think anyone should that, you know, these aren't going to be uphill battles and sometimes you have to get a long running start and it's not just, you know, March of the election year, it's two years ahead for when you have the opportunity to seriously run. So yeah, we're excited. As you mentioned, the Senate 13 is kind of a more unique situation than yours and probably most of the races in the state is. I think it'll probably be one of the only seriously contested races in terms of even without a libertarian running, you know, both the Republican and Democrats seriously going at the same seat. So yeah, we're going to be doing our best to make an impact on that and again providing an option that folks aren't used to having at this level. Like you said, usually they'll see U.S. senate and governor, but seeing a libertarian at a race a little lower down on the ballot is going to be a significant change for a lot of folks.
- [34:36]
A
Yeah, and it's to the idea of running a race in our county. It was, I was probably a teenager but we had, you know, Republican stronghold here and Bob Ashley was our delegate for quite a while and you know, one year Democrat Oscar Hines was his name, he went out and ran and he did a lot of groundwork. He door knocked and he ended up winning the the for a term. And then Bob Ashley came out and he came back and he did very similar strategy and I think it was kind of wake up call for him to understand what was necessary and, and he came back and won his seat back. But there is an opportunity to go out there and disturb the status quo and to the idea of running a race is, you know, Taylor, you and I, we're going to do it and if we're alone, okay, so be it. But I have said and I've told everybody that I've told that I'm running that you know, I'm going to put as much effort into it as the support I get. I'm going to put the effort in, I can put in. But if I, if I see people supporting me and, and and not just, you know, with dollars but with effort and you know, putting out signs and talking to people and sharing posts and you know, helping me door knock and go to events and stuff like that, I will put it, we'll put as much effort in as is is given through people supporting us. And that, that's one thing that we need is if we're going to have a third option in this state and in these races, people have to participate as well as you know, we've done our part. We're, we're, we filed and we're, we're going to run. But if you want it to be more than just a name on the ballot, you have to come out and you have to help. And, and Taylor, you're less introverted than me, but the idea of going to a door and knocking on it and talking to someone makes my skin crawl. And it's funny because almost every single time I'm not the person to just walk up to people and start talking to them. But you know, once they engage and if they do want to talk, I've got no problem. Like we can talk all day about whatever you want and, and I can make that effort. And we know the subject and we know the topics and we can talk about, you know, our principles. But you know, if you are somebody that does, is a little bit more, you know, extroverted and wants to help somebody do that, I mean, we could always use people. If we have a door knocking campaign where we go out one weekend and start knocking on doors, we need your help. We need people to distribute things. Maybe if there's a local spaghetti dinner, come and sit with the candidate, me or Taylor, at this point, come and sit with us at the table and be somebody that can talk to somebody while we're talking to somebody else. Or I think as David Moran said, as a convention, if somebody's losing a little bit of steam and they're feeling discouraged, be there. Hey man, I'm here too. We can do this. And I don't want to make it sound like it's super serious, but you know, it can be a very lonely thing as, again, as David said, to run for office, especially as a libertarian. So if you do think this is worth some us doing, if you think this is a worthwhile venture, if hearing about us running is something that makes you excited, you can be a part of that. I mean, we're not going to reject anybody. I know a lot of times, you know, they say you, you, you've got to ask for help. And so this is what we're doing, we're asking for help. If you've got a little bit extra money to give. I mean, I don't, you know, Taylor, you've looked at prices, stuff, you know, yard signs are expensive. I mean even if you get them discounted from China or whatever, they're still really expensive. 200 yard signs, you're looking at at least 1500 dollars. I mean it's, it's big money. And you know, neither of us Are. We're. We are illustrious, illustrious thousandaires. And maybe we've got a little bit of money put into it, but, you know, everything helps. And you know, you always. Everybody kind of feels gross asking for money as well you. But this is a political campaign and we're not running for us. We're not running for fame and glory. We're running to get government out of your life and make your life easier. That's what I want. I want to make your life easier and my life easier. And in regard to government, I'm not going to help you make your life easier if you're making bad decisions. But in government's decisions that they're making that you can do nothing about, those are things that we're trying to eliminate. And if you agree, then time, money, talent, if you know how to do something, if you know how to make video production, if you are good at making graphics, and we don't have time to do it, I mean, step up. I mean, volunteer message. One of us, you know, we'll give you something to do. You know, in your area, there's a little bit more. There's quite a few more people, and you've probably got a lot more libertarians than I do. I think I have maybe 10 in the whole county that are registered libertarians. So, yeah, I mean, this is a call out to for assistance. I mean, we can use your help and be a part of the solution. So we all sit back and we're all guilty of it. I mean, I know you, you helped Erica pretty extensively with her campaign and. But we've all been guilty of seeing somebody run that we would support. But, you know, maybe we just didn't do it or we weren't financially able at the time, and I understand that. And maybe even just a message saying, hey, I'm glad you're running. Go for it. That does a lot more than you think. It would just, just have somebody say, yeah, no, I'm glad you're running. I will vote for you. That that's, you know, morale is a huge thing in any, any human being's life. So. So, yeah,
- [40:21]
B
no, I'll just echo that, Ty, and say that, you know, nothing is, is too small in terms of donation amounts, obviously, but really just in terms of support, hey, I'm not throwing anything away, but. But no, I mean, I think in, in terms of, you know, just general, you know, we talk about, for the podcast, helping the algorithms, you know, liking our page, sharing our page, inviting folks to it, those type of things. We see It, I mean, I don't know if you've played around with dashboards on Facebook and whatnot, but when you see those things happening, it is a feel good moment. So yeah, please, if you have friends who live in and around our areas, whether it's the 13th up here or, or the 15th house district down near Roane county, you know, share our stuff with them, get us in front of them and, and they have questions, you know, same thing. Time is I'm not the, I'm relatively extroverted but it still is a hurdle to, you know, get that ball rolling in terms of conversations. But if people have questions about where I stand or where you stand on a certain issue, that's all we need, man. And, and we're off to the races in terms of willing to talk to them about it and explain not just our position but the libertarian principles in general. And yeah, I, I do believe that a lot of folks are, are just interested in an alternative that we, that they don't usually have. I think a lot of folks are just disenfranchised by the two options, especially when those options are sometimes blurred in terms of where they stand on certain issues or just general approaches to the government size and scope. So, you know, that's what we're doing. We're here to give folks an option this election cycle that they're not used to having. But it will take some support. Well, it'll take support of various types and don't hesitate to reach out. You see, folks do all these things for other candidates and the major parties and we're just as serious about running as those folks are. So we need the same type of serious support that they get. So yeah, excited to be doing it, but will agree that it's going to take some efforts by folks behind us to keep us going towards November.
- [42:34]
A
And we both agree to take no APAC donations. Right.
- [42:39]
B
Well, they can send it to me, but I have delivered anything they asked me to, so I'll be happy to blow their money.
- [42:46]
A
Yeah, so yeah, I mean, I think that's it and that's.
- [42:50]
B
I do want to touch on. That's a good. We didn't mention this, but you know, I say it on my website. You know, I don't expect any PAC money because there just generally aren't many PACs that are liberty focused, you know, small government, reducing taxes, those kind of things. But I, I can guarantee you this as a candidate that if whoever gives me money is not going to change how I'm going to vote, they're they're going to be giving me money because of what I've told them and where I stand on, on issues. I'm not going to be swayed by, you know, a ten dollar or 2500, whatever the max donation amount is donation to my campaign, if a political action committee or a visit or whomever is giving to me. They're giving to me because they agree with my stance on certain issues that are important to them, not because they believe that I'm going to be swayed by that donation. And, and we talked about, you know, folks like Gino and a few others who voted against things like the Con Law repeal and then you look in their donation list and you see things like the hospital association and other healthcare groups and if those folks want to give to me, fantastic. But as soon as I possibly can, I'm going to be voting to repeal Con Law and opening up the monopolies that exist in healthcare and across the board in every industry. So if you look on my donor list and I'm blessed enough to be given money by various folks, it's not because they expect to sway me again. The first word of my campaign slogan is principled and that's because I believe what I believe and I'm not going to be swayed by any donation amount. So I think it's important to note because I think a lot of times one of the reason why people are so disenfranchised by politics is because so many candidates and politicians get bought. They again, they promising campaign on something and then once they see those checks roll in then they kind of bleed over to a more moderate stance on things. And you know, that's just not the candidate that I am and I don't think that's a candidate that any real libertarian is. We didn't get this way by being swayed. We got this way because like I said earlier, we studied economics and history and we know generally how things work and how things can get better and it's not by the status quo that most, most PACs and people are going to donate for.
- [45:19]
A
Yeah, yeah. And ironically we want to get rid of the vaccine mandates and fluoride in the water that probably made us the way we are. So a little mild autism on this side of the fence. But yeah, no, we appreciate everybody's support and the kind words that we've gotten already. I mean, I know I've gotten some people that say, yeah, I'll do whatever you need me to do. And they're not libertarians. I've got people that have told Me, one of the reasons I decided to actually, you know, pull the trigger is because I've gotten what I would call bipartisan support. People that I know are on the left and on the right or people that don't really have a, you know, significant conviction, either way, they've said, yeah, no, we got to do something about this. And, you know, this is the time. And. And been excited. I've had people literally jump up and down excited about running. And that, you know, that always makes me want to set the place on fire and run out of the room, because I don't really respond well to a super pos Positive praise. But it does mean a lot to me, and I'm sure it does to Taylor as well to have that support. So we're gonna run the race, and whatever happens, we'll be content that we did this and won't regret it unless something horrible happens. But I don't anticipate that happening. But, yeah, if you want to subscribe, subscribe to the podcast. We are on all podcast platforms. Hit us up on Instagram, Facebook X. We will be posting more about our campaigns, and I'm sure we'll use the state accounts to help get that message out across the state and maybe garner some support from other areas. But, yeah, hit us up lpwv.org and I know Taylor's your website live for your campaign.
- [47:05]
B
It is. So it's Richmond, which is my last name, Obviously, the number four, and then senate.com richmond4senate.com.
- [47:13]
A
Okay. Yeah. And I don't have a website up yet. I've been working on it. And so, yeah, there'll be donation buttons on there. You can share the websites and, you know, Facebook pages to show what our principles are and. And stances on issues. So, yeah, do that. But until next time, don't hurt people and don't take their stuff.