Iowa Libertarians’ Congressional candidates challenged by Republicans

DES MOINES — A state panel will meet at the end of the month to determine whether three Libertarian Party candidates for Congress in Iowa should appear on the ballot in November’s election.

A spokeswoman for the Iowa Secretary of State’s Office said Monday that the State Objection Panel will meet Aug. 28 to consider challenges to the candidacies of Libertarians Nicholas Gluba in Eastern Iowa’s 1st Congressional District, Marco Battaglia in Central Iowa’s 3rd District, and Charles Aldrich in Western Iowa’s 4th District.

The State Objection Panel is comprised of Iowa’s Secretary of State Paul Pate, Attorney General Brenna Bird and Auditor Rob Sand. Pate and Bird are Republicans; Sand is a Democrat.

The panel considers and rules on objections to the legality of candidates for public office in Iowa.

Brought by Iowa Republicans, the objections argue the Libertarian Party of Iowa failed to complete nominating procedures required by state law. The Republicans’ objections argue that disqualifies the three Libertarian candidates for Congress.

Libertarians dispute the allegation. They say they did hold their county conventions — on the same night they held their caucuses — on Jan. 15.

Iowa law requires recognized political parties to hold county and state conventions to nominate candidates and conduct other organizing. The Libertarian Party became officially recognized by the state after the 2022 election, when Libertarian candidate for governor Rick Stewart received more than 2 percent of the vote.

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None of the party’s three Congressional candidates were on the ballot for Iowa’s primary election in June, although state law allows parties to nominate a candidate after the primary election and before the general. Gluba, Battaglia and Aldrich were nominated at a special party convention on June 8.

The challenges to the Libertarian Congressional candidates were filed by six Iowa residents, two from each of the respective districts. Of the six challengers, at least five have been involved in Republican politics in Iowa or advocated publicly for conservative policies.

The six challengers are being represented by Alan Ostergren, a prominent Iowa conservative lawyer and former Muscatine County Attorney.

Libertarian Party: ‘We did have those conventions’

In documents provided by the Iowa Secretary of State’s Office, the objections include email transcripts showing Ostergren asking county elections officials whether the Libertarian Party submitted lists of committee members and delegates to the counties as required by state law. The documents show county auditors responding to Ostergren, saying they did not receive that information from the party.

Libertarian Party of Iowa chairwoman Jules Cutler told The Gazette it is true that the party neglected to report that information to the counties. But she insisted the party did conduct its required county convention business.

“We did have those conventions. I’m going to provide (the information) to the panel,” Cutler said. “As far as I’m concerned, we’re essentially compliant. We held party business. We just didn’t report it to the county auditors.”

Third-party votes could impact election outcomes

A third-party vote could impact the outcome in a close election, and Iowa’s 1st and 3rd Congressional District elections are expected to be among the more competitive U.S. House elections in the country.

Among national elections forecasters, Elections Daily rates Iowa’s 3rd District election as a tossup and the 1st District as leaning Republican, while Larry Sabato’s Crystal Ball rates both as leaning Republican.

In the 1st District, Republican incumbent Mariannette Miller-Meeks is running for re-election against Gluba and Democrat Christina Bohannan.

In the 3rd District, first-term Republican incumbent Zach Nunn is running for re-election against Battaglia and Democrat Lanon Baccam.

In the 4th District, Republican incumbent Randy Feenstra is running for re-election against Aldrich and Democrat Ryan Melton.

Gluba, Battaglia and Aldrich all criticized the objections during their respective remarks this weekend at the Des Moines Register’s Political Soapbox at the Iowa State Fair.

“They want to attack Iowans’ ability to vote for who they choose. We have to fight against that,” Gluba said Saturday.

The general election is Nov. 5.

Comments: (515) 355-1300, erin.murphy@thegazette.com

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