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Democratic and Republican candidates for statewide office in Pennsylvania garner nearly all the attention, especially this year, but there are minor-party candidates angling for those seats, too.

The Libertarian, Green and Keystone parties have candidates on the general election ballot for U.S. Senate, governor and lieutenant governor.

If the Keystone Party doesnt sound familiar, dont feel bad.

The party just had its first convention on a small farm in York County in April after some members became disenchanted and left the Libertarian Party because they felt it was tilting too far right, particularly on social issues.

Gus Tatlas, the chairman of the Keystone Party of Pennsylvania, said members consider themselves a coalition of independents. The former Libertarians, he said, did not like hateful rhetoric coming from some Libertarian leaders.

In good conscience, they said they could no longer be affiliated with an organization that doesnt renounce that type of rhetoric, Tatlas said.

So far, Tatlas said the Keystone Party is getting a lot of great feedback and quickly managed to gather enough signatures to field statewide candidates.

Keystones website lists its party platform as government reform, including a part-time Legislature and term limits, an independent redistricting commission, open primaries, ranked choice voting, and school choice.

First, lets take a look at the candidates for U.S. Senate.

Libertarian

Erik Gerhardt, a Montgomery County resident who owns a carpentry business, is the Libertarian candidate for the open seat left by the retirement of Republican Sen. Pat Toomey.

On his campaign website, Gerhardt details a platform focused on jobs and the economy, social injustice, police reform, and ending the war on drugs.

Gerhardt, who sports a Philadelphia Phillies cap in his photo on the website, says, Most taxes are nothing short of theft. He supports cutting taxes to their absolute minimum, implementing a flat tax on sales and eliminating property taxes, though thats a state, not a federal, tax.

With fewer taxes, more of the money you work for will stay in your pocket, Gerhardt says.

Gerhardt agrees that police reform is needed, but opposes defunding the police, saying it hurts communities.

Instead, he said reform should begin with police recruits training, such as teaching them jujitsu to subdue suspects and avoid deadly force, and completing community service before graduating from the academy.

Gerhardt says he wants to end the war on drugs, beginning with decriminalizing marijuana, which Democratic Senate candidate John Fetterman, the states lieutenant governor, also supports.

However, Gerhardt also backs legalizing many other non-addictive drugs, and insisted decriminalization would also stop smuggling across the countrys southern border.

Green Party

Allegheny County resident Richard Weiss, an attorney, is the Green Party candidate for Senate. He ran for attorney general in 2020.

Weiss recently released a statement outlining a platform aimed at ending fracking, passing universal health care, pursuing peaceful resolutions in Ukraine and in other global conflicts, protecting abortion rights, legalizing marijuana and implementing police reform.

Fracking is ruining the water and health of Pennsylvania, Weiss said of the process to extract natural gas.

Weiss supports a just transition to renewable energy, which, he said, offers more jobs than the fossil fuel industry, protection for the environment and cheaper energy for consumers.

Universal healthcare is vital to help Americans as COVID-19 continues and victims experience prolonged medical problems.

Current health insurance has too many deductibles, co-pays and limitations on coverage, Weiss said. Employers who provide healthcare will benefit from Medicare-for-All by having costs reduced. Employers who do not provide healthcare will benefit from Medicare-for-All by having healthier workers. Medicare-for-All costs less for better care.

Keystone Party

Keystone candidate Daniel Wassmer is a Pike County resident who ran for attorney general in 2020 under the Libertarian banner. Wassmer finished third in that race just ahead of Weiss.

According to Ballotpedia.com, Wassmer said in 2020 that he worked as an adjunct professor, attorney and business owner.

Now, lets meet the minor party candidates running for governor and lieutenant governor.

Libertarian

Matt Hackenburg of Northampton County is the Libertarian candidate for governor. He described himself as a computer engineer and former National Guardsman in his Twitter account bio.

Hackenburgs issues on his website include repealing all gun control laws, allowing parents to decide how to educate their children, ending the theft of taxation and opposing the action of the Wolf administration during the height of the COVID pandemic.

Timothy McMaster of York County is the Libertarian candidate for lieutenant governor. An auditor, McMaster ran unsuccessfully in a special election for the 48th Senatorial District seat last year.

Keystone Party

Keystone gubernatorial candidate Joseph Soloski of Centre County ran for state treasurer in 2020 as a Libertarian. He is a certified public accountant and owned his own firm near Pittsburgh for 30 years before moving to Centre County in 2013.

Soloskis lieutenant governor running mate is Nicole Shultz of York County. She and her husband own a small business selling jams and other items.

Green Party

Christine PK DiGiulio of Chester County is the Green candidate for governor. She is a former analytical chemist for the U.S. Department of Defense and co-founded the Watchdogs of South-Eastern Pennsylvania and the Better Path Coalition.

DiGiulio opposes the Mariner East pipeline and the fossil fuel industry and supports abortion rights.

Earlier this year, DiGiulio told cityandstatepa.com, Its time to focus on the people 100 percent. We need basic human rights. There are people without clean water in 2022 in Pennsylvania. Thats pretty pathetic.

In an interview with The Daily Local of West Chester in April, DiGiulio said abortion access is part of womens general healthcare and made the case that the country should move away from fossil fuels.

Michael Bagdes-Canning, a Butler County resident, is the Green candidate for lieutenant governor. A teacher, Bagdes-Canning has served as vice president of the Pennsylvania State Education Association and was a founding member of the Better Path Coalition.

Our economy is set up to keep us fighting against each other rather than for each other, he said in a Labor Day statement. The same forces keeping us as wage slaves are also destroying the very climate we depend on for survival, pitting us against each other, using race, gender, immigration status, and our ZIP codes to divide us. When we in the working class unite, that will all change.

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Major party candidates get the attention, but Pa. voters have third party options, too - Williamsport Sun-Gazette