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Unlike his counterpart in Arizona, Erik Gerhardt says he isn't going anywhere.

Gerhardt is the Libertarian Party candidate for Senate in Pennsylvania, which is likely to be one of the closest and most important races in the country. The same could be said of Arizona's Senate race, which was shaken up on Monday by Libertarian Marc Victor's decision to drop out and endorse the Republican in the race, Blake Masters, seemingly in an effort to throw the key election to the GOP.

Despite that, Gerhardt says there's nothing that would make him drop out of the Pennsylvania race to clear the way for either Democratic candidate and former Lt. Gov. John Fetterman or Republican nominee and reality TV star Mehmet Oz.

"They can't promise me anything that would make me happy enough to do so," Gerhardt tells Reason."There's no monetary value to the morale that would be lost with either of [those] candidates winning that seat."

"So, yeah, that's a hard no," he added. "That's not happening."

The closeness of the race in Pennsylvania has already inspired one alternative candidate to drop out. Independent candidate Everett Stern ended his write-in campaign last week and endorsed Fetterman.

That sort of zero-sum politicking seems antithetical to the very point of third parties. It makes little sense to spend the time and effort to get on the ballotin Pennsylvania, Gerhardt needed to get 2,000 signatures to qualifyonly to genuflect to one of the two major parties in the week before the election.

But that's exactly what happened in Arizona.

Although Masters' background includes working in the libertarian movement, he has more recently stated that libertarianism "doesn't work" and embraced more authoritarian positions on a variety of issuesparticularly on immigration and his promises to get "tough" with China.

Victor's announcement sparked another round of an ongoing fight over the purpose and function of the Libertarian Party. Some prominent libertarians including podcast host Dave Smith (who, like Ron Paul, had previously endorsed Masters outright) defended Victor's decision as a strategic move "in the interest of liberty." Others, like former congressman Justin Amash, condemned it.

Chase Oliver, the Libertarian candidate in the hotly contested Georgia Senate race, wrote on Twitter that "any Libertarian who endorsed Masters should be laughed out of the convention hall." That's a shot at both Victor and Smith, who is widely considered a leading candidate for the party's presidential nomination in 2024.

"If you support endorsing Republicans, you ought to be one," Oliver wrote.

There's little doubt that Victor moved the needle in Arizona, where he was polling well into the double-digits at one point and as high as 8 percent in the past week. As Reason's Brian Doherty reported Monday, Victor's campaignraised over $128,000, which is high for a Libertarian candidate, though most of it came from Democratic-leaning organizations that clearly seemed to believe he would take votes from Masters and help Sen. Mark Kelly (DAriz.) win reelection.

In Pennsylvania, Gerhardt is polling less well but the close race between Fetterman and Oz means every vote he gets could be important to the outcome. The Real Clear Politics polling average has Fetterman leading by 1.2 percent despite ongoing concerns about his health and a shaky debate performance last week.

The results could also affect the Libertarian Party's future ballot accessgarnering more than 2 percent of the vote would guarantee the party statewide ballot access in 2024.

Rather than running from the role of being a potential spoiler for Fetterman or Oz, Gerhardt is embracing it.

"I say split the divide and take everything that they don't have," Gerhardt, a 37-year-old general contractor and master carpenter, told Reason on Monday. "And I take some stuff they already do have and I bloody both their noses and then I come back harder next time."

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Will Pennsylvania's Libertarian Senate Candidate Drop Out? 'That's a ...

Republican Gen. Don Bolduc (R-NH) was physically attacked by a libertarian activist before Wednesdays debate, according to opponent Sen. Maggie Hassans (D-NH) campaign staff.

Hassans campaign communications director Kevin Donohoetweetedthat the assailantwhophysically attacked the general outside last nights debate was a Libertarian activist.

Kate Constantini, Bolduc for Senate spokeswoman, told Breitbart News that law enforcement was quickly on the scene and apprehended the individual.

Prior to the debate, an individual in the crowd gathered outside attempted to punch the General and was quickly apprehended and arrested,Constantiniexplained. We are grateful to the quick response from law enforcement on the scene, she said about theGoffstown police department.

As the General said on stage tonight, its time to lower the temperature of the political discourse in this country,she added.

DERRY, NH OCTOBER 15: Republican senate nominee Don Bolduc shakes hands with attendees during a campaign event on October 15, 2022 in Derry, New Hampshire. Bolduc, and Army General who won the GOP primary will take on Sen. Maggie Hassan (D) in November. (Photo by Scott Eisen/Getty Images)

The attack occurred without mention from the debate moderators or WMUR ABC, even though the attack occurred before the debate. The network asked candidates about the rise in violence against politicians, mentioning January 6 and the attack against Paul Pelosi, but failed to mention the incident that occurred minutes before against the Republican candidate.

The debate took place one hour before President Joe Biden condemned Republicans for political violence in a speech at Union Station in Washington, D.C.

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Democrat Hassan Claims Gen. Bolduc's Attacker Was Libertarian Activist

The United States relies too heavilyon our military might in foreign policy. For more than a decade, our country has been waging active wars in the Middle East. This has left our military tired, with several thousand dead, and many more thousands wounded physically and mentally.

A decade ago, the United States entered into nation building thinking that it would help improve corners of the world that terrorists find opportunistic. Sadly, some of the nation building which our country entered into with genuinely good intentions has backfired. We now know that no matter how sophisticated our military is and no matter how much money we spend, nation building is far more complicated that we originally thought. Additionally, it may likely create more terrorists than it quells.

Imagine if China had a military base in Montana. Or Russia had a military base in Texas. How would Americans feel about that? We would likely feel insulted, oppressed, and mad. Some Americans would likely seek to actively opposed those bases. And the escalation would continue. That is what we have seen in the Middle East with our involvement there.

Libertarians believe that war is justified only in defense. We are opposed to a draft. If a war is just and necessary, Americans of all backgrounds will volunteer to fight it. We believe that a draft enforced by law is no different from slavery.

Libertarians believe that American foreign policy should focus more heavily on developing communications among peoples and finding peaceful resolutions to disagreements. We believe in maintaining a military that can defend us well if we are attacked and we believe part of that is ensuring that our troops are not so war-weary as they have been in recent years.

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Foreign Policy | Libertarian Party

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Libertarian Party Mises Caucus Take Human Action

ATLANTA Republican Gov. Brian Kemp has opened a double-digit lead over Democratic challenger Stacey Abrams, according to a poll released Wednesday.

However, Georgias U.S. Senate race is in a dead heat, the Capitol Beat/Georgia News Collaborative Poll found in a survey of 1,030 likely general election voters conducted Sept. 15-Oct. 4 by the University of Georgias School of Public and International Affairs.

The survey found state Sen. Burt Jones, R-Jackson, with a slight lead for the open lieutenant governors seat over Democrat Charlie Bailey.

GOP incumbents hold a solid lead in both the races for attorney general and secretary of state, according to the poll.

Kemp drew the support of 51% of poll respondents to 40.7% for Abrams, giving the governor a lead of 10.3%. Libertarian Shane Hazel was a distant third with 2.3%, while 6% of those surveyed were undecided.

Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., was favored by 46.4% of the poll respondents, to 43.4% for Republican challenger Herschel Walker. Given the polls margin of error of 3.1 percentage points, the race is essentially tied. Chase Oliver, the Libertarian candidate, trailed at 4.1%, while 6.1% of those surveyed were undecided.

Support for Jones stood at 43.5%, with 38.8% of survey respondents favoring Bailey. Factoring in the margin of error left Jones with a slight lead over his Democratic rival for lieutenant governor. Libertarian Ryan Graham was third at 4.0%, and 13.8% of respondents were undecided.

While Kemp polled slightly above the 50%-plus-one margin needed to avoid a Dec. 6 runoff, the race for Senate and possibly the contest for lieutenant governor could be headed toward an extra round of voting.

The survey found Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger well ahead of state Rep. Bee Nguyen, 47.9% to 33.9%. Libertarian Ted Metz stood third at 6.3%, with 11.8% undecided.

Likewise, GOP Attorney General Chris Carr held a strong lead over Democratic state Sen. Jen Jordan, 47.4% to 38.8%. Libertarian Martin Cowen trailed at 3.6%, with 10.2% undecided.

Although both Raffensperger and Carr were short of the margin needed to win the Nov. 8 election outright, the large percentage of undecided voters left room for the two incumbents to get over the threshold.

Kemps lead over Abrams in the gubernatorial contest has widened over recent polls.

I think hes done a good job, said Misty Dunn, 45, an archaeologist from Meriwether County, a regular Republican voter who supports Kemp even though she disagrees with his staunch opposition to abortion.

I cant vote the other way on that one issue, Dunn said.

Aaron Williams, 42 of McDonough, who works for a telecommunications company, said he plans to vote for Abrams primarily because she is not a Republican, a party he has soured on.

The conservative side has gone full on hypocrisy, Williams said. I cant get behind a single conservative candidate.

Wendy Meehan, 72, of Madison County, said she will vote to elect Warnock to a full Senate term because her positions in favor of Medicaid expansion and against the U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning the constitutional right to abortion align with the Democrats.

Meehan said she doesnt believe Walker is qualified to serve in the Senate.

He should not be a Senate candidate, she said. Georgia could do much better than him.

Lisa Elias, 53, a business owner from Gainesville, said she liked Walker when she saw him speak at her church.

He seemed like a good man, Elias said. Im a Christian, and Im conservative in my values.

But some Republican voters are starting to have concerns about Walker following allegations of violence against his ex-wife and that he paid for a former girlfriends abortion.

If these things are true, thats horrible, said Sarah Simcox, 56, a kindergarten teacher in Forsyth County. But I think politically he might be better [than Warnock]. Im struggling with it. Its going to take a lot of prayer.

Black voters who responded to the poll overwhelmingly preferred Democrats Abrams and Warnock, not surprising since most Black voters support Democratic candidates. But Warnock outperformed Abrams among that group of voters, 89% to 80.7%.

Walker, a former University of Georgia football star, drew only 2% support among Black voters, while Kemp was preferred by 8% of Black survey respondents.

Kemp held a solid lead over Abrams among men, 58% to 33.3%. Walkers lead among men was strong but not as large as Kemps. Walker was supported by 52.5% of men who responded to the poll, compared to 37.7% favoring Warnock.

Warnock, however, enjoyed a huge lead among women, 53.6% to 36.3% for Walker. Women were much more evenly divided in the governors race, with 46.6% preferring Abrams to 45.4% supporting Kemp.

Broken down by age, Kemp held the edge among all groups except for those between the ages of 30 and 44. Among that group, Abrams led 50.6% to 39%.

Warnock led decisively among younger voters, those between the ages of 18 and 44. Walker turned the tables with a solid lead among the 45-64 age group and a smaller lead among voters 65 and older.

Kemp polled strongest among voters with a high school education or less, while Abrams biggest advantage was among college graduates.

The same was true in the Senate race, with Walker scoring highest among those with a high school diploma or less, and Warnocks best showing coming from poll respondents with a college degree.

The poll was conducted via telephone, about 90% through cellphone interviews and 10% over landline connections.

The survey results were weighted to represent respondents proportionally in terms of race, sex, age, and education.

Staff writer Rebecca Grapevine contributed to this report.

This story is available through a news partnership with Capitol Beat News Service, a project of the Georgia Press Educational Foundation.

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Kemp leading Abrams by double digits; Warnock and Walker tied | - Capitol Beat