Jacob Hornberger's 2002 race for US Senate

Jacob Hornberger has bragged about his "success" in a Senate race over 20 years ago

I just listened to the Libertarian Party’s Presidential debate in Connecticut. On several occasions, Jacob Hornberger bragged about his 2002 race in Virginia for the US Senate seat. He said that he got 7% of the vote. Go here for the video:

In that Senate election, John Warner was the incumbent. In this case, getting 7% of the vote isn't any great accomplishment. The Blue Team didn't have a candidate. Warner was on the Red Team and got 82.6% of the vote. Go here:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Warner#Electoral_results

When both Red and Blue are in the race, a percentage of 7% is high for the LP. When one of those two is out, such a percentage is actually quite poor. This is usually because the party doesn’t want to run against a popular incumbent. Warner had first won that seat in 1978, so the election was safe for him.

The election is a huge embarrassment for two reasons. Nancy Spannaus got over 9% of the vote. Hornberger also ran as an independent because the Virginia LP didn't want to have anything to do with him.

When either the Red Team or the Blue Team doesn't run, it's not that unusual for the LP candidate to have a percentage in the double digits. The LP candidate becomes the only protest candidate available. The LP candidate often finishes second. Here is an example of a very successful LP candidate in such a race:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Monds#Election_results

More recently, we also have a case of an LP candidate cracking the double digits even when both parties ran:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_Indiana_gubernatorial_election

Not surprisingly, Rainwater’s high total was due to protest votes over the governor’s idiotic coronavirus policies.

It’s another story to go into all the details as to why Hornberger ran as an independent back in 2002. You can read about that here:

https://thelibertarianrepublic.com/the-malignant-dishonesty-of-jacob-hornberger/

Of course, most of the LP’s current membership wasn’t involved back in 2002. And one has to wonder why a candidate in 2023 or 2024 would talk about any race that happened so long ago. It naturally raises the question: “What have you done for me lately?”

It does show a problem which has held back the LP for a long time. When you act like a colossal failure was some type of big win, you don’t have any incentive to change or improve. You keep doing the same thing over and over, which might be why the LP has basically went sideways for over 40 years.

Hornberger has never had the Libertarian Party’s official endorsement in any race, and it’s a safe bet that it won’t change in 2024. He would do better if he forgets that the 2002 election ever happened.