TOPEKA �Buoyed by a likable presidential candidate, Kansas libertarians are confident they can swell their ranks this year in pursuit of an improved party status in 2018.



�It�s going to be a dynamite year for us, and that is mainly because of the Gary Johnson situation,� said Rob Hodgkinson, chair of the Kansas Libertarian Party, referring to the former New Mexico governor and libertarian presidential candidate.



Johnson�s popularity has soared in recent months as dispirited voters seek alternatives to Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, both of whom have high disapproval ratings. Johnson, on average, is polling at about 9 percent nationally.



�I think Gary Johnson, here in Kansas, can get in the teens,� Hodgkinson said.



The Kansas Libertarian Party has two other numbers in mind: five and 2018. If a Libertarian candidate can garner 5 percent of votes in the 2018 gubernatorial race � 1 percent more than libertarian candidate Keen Umbehr did in 2014 � the party will earn �major party� status. With that comes fewer restrictions on ballot access and the ability to take part in August primaries.



The party currently chooses its candidates in a humdrum manner at party conventions that garner little interest outside the room in which they are held. Public primaries would enhance name recognition, Hodgkinson said.



�All of the stuff we�re doing in 2016, I think, will really pay off in 2018,� he said, citing recruitment drives and an uptick in volunteers. �I really do believe this is a steppingstone, a building block to major party status in 2018.�



The party has candidates competing in each of the five federal races this year � one U.S. Senate contest and four U.S. House elections � as well as two state Senate races, five state House races and a judicial election in northwest Kansas.



Because it is a steppingstone year, Hodgkinson isn�t predicting electoral success in 2016.



�We don�t have any real competitive people running this year,� he said. �Our candidates aren�t spending a lot of money. People don�t know who they are.�



Robert Garrard, who is running for U.S. Senate, hopes to attract 10 percent of voters this November. If he does, it would represent a huge surge for the party. Libertarians won 4.3 percent and 2.1 percent, respectively, in the 2014 and 2010 Senate races.



�If Gary gets in the debates and does reasonably well, I think it will help out quite a bit for state and local races,� Garrard said. Johnson is hoping for a spike in poll numbers that will make him eligible for presidential debates this fall.



Kerry Burt, running for U.S. House in the 1st District, is in a unique race. The incumbent, U.S. Rep. Tim Huelskamp, lost his primary, leaving Republican nominee Roger Marshall, Burt and independent candidate Alan LaPolice. No Democrat is running in the overwhelmingly conservative district.



�I�m having success with Republicans who have seen, for a long time, that their party seems to be moving away from them,� Burt said. �Their party doesn�t represent the principles they used to.�



Republicans have compromised their fiscal conservatism, Burt says, amassing deficits and debt. He said young Republicans turned off by Trump�s vitriol on immigration are turning to the Libertarian Party.



James Houston Bales is running as a libertarian in the 2nd District, which includes Topeka and Lawrence.



�If I can draw 5 percent of the vote, I would be extremely happy,� Bales said. �I just want Kansans to know there is another choice out there.�



Bales, like Burt, said some young conservatives are repulsed by Trump, whom he called �a caricature� of heartless Republicans. Liberals, he said, are annoyed by Clinton�s business-as-usual approach.



�National discontent is higher than it�s ever been since Nixon resigned,� Bales said, �and even back then it wasn�t on both sides like it is now.�



Kansas is politically polarized, Hodgkinson said, and that provides an opening for libertarians to make their case.



�Right now in Kansas, you�re either for or against (Gov. Sam) Brownback, there�s no middle ground,� he said. �It�s just like at the national level, you�re either for or against Trump. Well, we�re the middle ground. Libertarians are the middle ground.�



Kansans are incrementally shedding their allegiance to major political parties, Hodgkinson said. He expects many millennials will remain independent or join the Libertarian Party, ushering in a change to state politics.



�One day, we are going to have people elected to the Kansas Legislature,� he said.