Bob Goodrich, state chairman of the Pennsylvania Constitution Party, was elected as Township Supervisor in Osceola Township, Tioga County. It was a most unusual race and I thought I would let Bob share the story in his own words below:

“A local citizen pushed hard during the "R" and "D" primaries, and I ended up winning both primaries as a write-in candidate. However, I was challenged because there are several Goodriches in the community and in the neighboring townships; also, my real name is Alan, but I go by Bob. So, this was used to challenge me off the ballot. That wasn't a big deal because I turned around and collected the signatures to get on the ballot as a Constitution Party candidate. So, I was on the ballot as a CP candidate, and consequently, the "D" and "R" did not have a candidate on the ballot at all because I had won both primaries as a write-in. You would have thought that if I had been removed from the ballot, the next highest vote-getter in the primary would have been on the ballot. But neither party had a candidate on the ballot.

Now, for the election. At the last minute, the "R" mounted a write-in campaign. I ended up with 170 votes and their write-in candidate had 21, which is quite a significant win. The "D" did not push for a write-in campaign, and did not collect any votes.”

Other victories were achieved in the State of Utah where Bryce Hamilton, state chairman of the Constitution Party, was re-elected to the Duchesne City Council as was fellow party member, Jason Baker. The current mayor and one other sitting council member were not up for re-election and both are Constitution Party members. With the mayor and three of five council members the party now has the majority vote in the City of Duchesne. It has taken at least six years for all of this to transpire, but it is the work of Bryce that has made this all possible. The fact that neither candidate was opposed speaks well of them.

Sherry Phipps, the bookkeeper for our national party, also ran for city council in Brigham City, a city of about 20,000. She placed fourth of eight candidates in the primary election. There were six candidates on the November ballot, three of whom were elected. Although Sherry did not win, she did remarkably well.

Electing our people to local office is key to the long-term growth and success of the party. It is at that level that our people gain experience which prepares them to run for even higher level local and state offices. The catch 22 has always been that in order to run for local partisan office, the party must be ballot qualified. That means that we must run at least one candidate for state wide office and that candidate must receive a given percentage of the vote for the party to maintain ballot status. Failure to achieve that percentage means the party has to repeat the expensive and time-consuming process of regaining ballot access again.

In some states, even though the party has ballot status, signatures are still required for a state wide candidate to run for office. That fact alone makes it critical that the party always have a presidential candidate since federal laws override some requirements for non-federal state wide office.

Two Candidates Have Formally Announced to Run for President

Two candidates have formally announced that they intend to seek the presidential nomination of the Constitution Party at the national convention April 29th to May 2nd, 2020.

Don Blankenship of West Virginia, former CEO of Massey Energy, announced in a national press release that he is seeking the 2020 presidential nomination of the Constitution Party. He had earlier announced his willingness to serve as the party’s nominee during his address at the party’s semi-annual national committee meeting in Pittsburgh on October 19^th. The news of his announcement was carried by the Associated Press. Some time ago Don was interviewed by Dave Sussman on Whiskey Politico. I would encourage you to view the video and share it with others to get better acquainted with his battle against corruption at high levels in state and national government.

Then, I received an email followed by a phone call from Charles Kraut of Virginia informing me that he too intended to seek the presidential nomination of the party. Charles has a back ground with the CIA and is a financial adviser. He has addressed the CP national committee members on more than one occasion. It is encouraging to have two qualified candidates filing to seek the party’s nomination this early. Other candidates have indicated their interest in seeking the party’s nomination, but as of this writing only Blankenship and Kraut have given notice of filing with the FEC.

With candidates filing notice of their intent to run for the office of president, it is imperative that we launch our strategy to achieve ballot access in sufficient states to achieve the electoral numbers necessary to win the presidency. Reaching our goal is achievable, but costly! We urge you to donate generously to the ballot access effort now and plan to invest monthly whatever you are able to during the next ten months. What happened in Pennsylvania shows us that people are totally dissatisfied with the failed leadership in both parties. We cannot afford to miss this opportunity!

National Committee Meeting in Pittsburgh a Huge Success

The national committee meeting in Pittsburgh was well attended. The speakers at the Training Session on Friday and at the National Committee meeting on Saturday were all outstanding. Trent England, a young millennial, addressed the dangers of the Popular Vote vs the Electoral College issue. He was the keynote speaker at the Friday night Banquet and addressed the national committee members on Saturday as well. We could have listened to him longer, but time just did not permit.

Two new Millennial members to the party also spoke. Tyler Breen, a young man from Pennsylvania, shared his vision of reaching Millennials with his unique style of humorous but hard-hitting facts in his video podcasts. You may view his videos on our Facebook page. Kevin Paulson spoke about his involvement in politics and his experience of successfully making it through the primary for a council seat in Salt Lake City on a very low budget.

There were several other speakers. The talks were recorded and all will be put on YouTube as soon as the editing can be completed.

CP Voter Registration in New Jersey Hits a New High

The State of New Jersey recently reported their statewide voter registration by party. Those who registered as Constitution Party totaled 15,603. This was an increase of over 500 new party registrants over the month of October. Those who registered as Libertarian totaled 15,816 and those who registered as Green Party totaled 10,606. Those are remarkable numbers for a blue state. Congratulations to the party leaders in that state.

Once again, I urge you to click on the link below and donate whatever amount you can to help us move forward in gaining ballot access in more states.

My sincere thanks to all of you for your continued support and dedication to the cause of Liberty.

Frank Fluckiger
National Chairman
Constitution Party