For November’s mid-term elections, Libertarians have “major party” status. And this has many of the party’s candidates optimistic about the future.

This is the first time the party is official with Iowa Code. That's because of strong Libertarian voter turnout in the 2016 election.

"What I think is going to happen here is we are going to build a movement,” Jake Porter, Libertarian Governor Candidate, said.

Jake Porter spends his days spreading the Iowa Libertarian Party message. In a nutshell, the party wants less government control. Specifically, he's pushing for prison reform.

"The state doesn't have enough money to build new prisons so who are they going to let out? Let out people with addictions or people with violent crimes?” Porter said. "I think we should treat people with addiction issues as people with mental health issues and make things a lot better."

Porter says the June primary election helped him reach more voters.

In previous years, without major party status, Porter and other libertarian candidates would not be in the primaries. Instead, they would wait to file for candidacy until late summer.

"The better we do the more these issues we talk about, whoever wins, whether it's me or one of the other candidates are going to address these issues going forward because the people will demand it,” Porter said.

Other libertarian candidates are running to simply raise awareness.

Myra Matejka is facing off against Tracy Ehlert, a Democrat, in District 70.

"I'm only running because my opponent would be running unopposed if it weren't going to run,” Matejka said.

She wants to ensure that Libertarian party keeps its official status, which means obtaining two percent of the statewide vote.

"I don't see it diminishing it anytime soon we're going to be a force moving forward. We're going to be an equal third party,” Matejka said.

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