Matt Welch concluded his Wednesday Reason article regarding Super Tuesday results for the Libertarian Party presidential race with this statement: “Much can and will change between now and late May but, for the moment, Jacob Hornberger is your Libertarian front-runner.” Welch’s granting the “frontrunner” label to Hornberger seems to be based on Hornberger, in Super Tuesday state-level contests, continuing his streak of victories over other candidates for the Libertarian presidential nomination.
In the three states — California, Massachusetts, and North Carolina — that held Libertarian presidential primaries on Tuesday, Welch reports that Hornberger received more votes than did any other candidates listed on the respective state ballots.
These victories are however damped by factors including the absence of one of the highest name recognition Libertarian presidential candidates — former governor and United States senate member Lincoln Chafee — in the contests and the fact that the “no preference” option outpolled Hornberger and all the other listed candidates in both states in which that option was on the ballot — Massachusetts and North Carolina.
Congratulations go to Hornberger for his continued good showing in Libertarian presidential nomination state-level contests. But, unlike in Republican and Democratic primaries and caucuses, the results of Libertarian primaries and caucuses do not determine the awarding of national delegates to presidential candidates.
While winning primaries and caucuses is a significant campaign achievement, to really determine if Hornberger is the frontrunner would require considering other factors as well. In my February 25 article “Will Jacob Hornberger Sweep Upcoming Libertarian Presidential Primaries and Caucuses? If He Does, How Much Will It Matter?” I wrote about some of these factors and how they relate to the Hornberger campaign’s effort to win state primaries and caucuses.
