Category Archives: Independents and third parties

Libertarian Colt Shelby seeks another win

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Colt Shelby

Colt Shelby

Colt Shelby, the Libertarian candidate for governor, won a court victory over Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders last week. Will he get another “win” in November? It depends on how one defines the word.

The victory came in an Arkansas Supreme Court case. Shelby originally had sued Sanders over the length of time she allowed between the death of Sen. Gary Stubblefield and her calling a special election to replace him. She would have delayed the election until after this year’s fiscal session, leaving Senate District 26 unrepresented. 

Shelby sued as a district resident. A court ruled in his favor, and Sanders set an earlier date of March 3 while the state appealed. Because the election had occurred, the Supreme Court May 14 ruled the case was moot, meaning there was no point. 

Shelby and Sanders will meet again in November, but this time the “judges” will be Arkansas voters. Shelby is running as the candidate of the Libertarian Party, which supports small government. State Sen. Fred Love of Little Rock is the Democratic nominee.  Continue reading →

Bryan King shows how an independent can get elected

Sen. Bryan King

Sen. Bryan King

Today let’s talk about two independents who were on Arkansas’ March 3 ballot – one explicitly independent, one functionally so. The explicit one, Adam Watson, lost badly. The functional one, Sen. Bryan King, won easily. 

There’s probably a lesson to be learned there – by me, if by no one else.

I’ve long hoped that voters would elect more centrist, commonsense independent candidates who are not beholden to the Republican and Democratic parties, which together have created the $39 trillion national debt. Three or four truly independent U.S. senators could serve as the balance of power and force the two parties to behave more responsibly.

But voters haven’t elected many independents – not at the federal level, and not at the state level. In fact, there have been only eight independent U.S. senators since 1983. There currently are two, but they generally work with Democrats. There’s one independent in the House of Representatives, Rep. Kevin Kiley from California, but until very recently he was a Republican. 

Back to March 3 in Arkansas. Continue reading →

Libertarians choose Colt Shelby as nominee for governor

Colt Shelby of Cecil will be the Libertarian Party of Arkansas’ candidate for governor in November while Jeff Wadlin of Bentonville will be the party’s U.S. Senate nominee. 

Dr. Michael Pakko of Roland, the party’s chairman, will be its secretary of state nominee. Pakko won 4.31% of the vote in the state treasurer’s race in 2026, collecting 49,847 votes.

The governor’s race is especially important for the party because a 3% showing in November would enable it to automatically qualify for the ballot in 2028. Otherwise, the party will have to collect 10,000 qualified signatures, as it did this election cycle. 

This is the eight consecutive election cycle the party has qualified for the ballot through the signature collection process, the party said in a news release.

Shelby was chosen at the convention on Saturday, Feb. 21, in a contested race that featured three other announced candidates. He defeated the second place finisher, Micheal Kalagias of Rogers, by two votes. Kalagias is the party’s nominee for lieutenant governor. Continue reading →

Can Watson win as an independent?

By Steve Brawner, © 2025 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

Can the right independent candidate running for the right office in the right circumstance win in Arkansas? Or must a candidate have a party label by his or her name on the ballot? 

We’ll have another chance to find out March 3.

The candidate in this case is Adam Watson of Branch, who is running to replace the late Sen. Gary Stubblefield, also of Branch. The office is state Senate District 26, which Stubblefield, a Republican, represented until his death in September. 

And the circumstance is the fact that the district includes Franklin County, where Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders has proposed building a 3,000-bed prison.

That prison has generated what Watson called “overwhelming opposition,” and so far it is stalled in the Legislature. Many Franklin County residents don’t want to bring a big prison into their community. Furthermore, Watson said the area does not have enough workers to fill the projected 800 staff positions. At the moment, the site lacks an adequate water supply and other needed infrastructure. And there are some hard feelings about the lack of communication between the Sanders administration and local residents. Continue reading →

Looking for third party signers, again

By Steve Brawner, © 2025 by Steve Brawner Communications, Inc.

It’s the monthly Third Thursday event in Benton, when the city closes off a section of the downtown around the courthouse for vendors and booths. Dr. Michael Pakko, chief economist and state economic forecaster at the Arkansas Economic Development Institute, is carrying a clipboard, again.

“Well, I’m collecting signatures for the Libertarian Party to become a new political party for the eighth time,” he explained.

The Libertarians are Arkansas’ largest third party. Pakko estimated it has about 150 dues-paying members. He is now in his sixth term as state party chairman. 

“Matter of fact, I think it was 10 years ago today that I was elected,” he said. Continue reading →