Jake Porter at Register's Soapbox: Winning unlikely, but Libertarians can shift policy

Robin Opsahl | The Des Moines Register

Show Caption Hide Caption Jake Porter, Libertarian candidate for Governor, speaks during the Political Soapbox Jake Porter, Libertarian candidate for Governor, speaks during the Political Soapbox

Libertarian candidate Jake Porter knows he's a long shot to become Iowa's next governor. But that doesn’t mean campaigning and spreading the message for his party isn’t important, he said Monday at the Des Moines Register Political Soapbox at the Iowa State Fair.

“Is it likely I’ll win?" Porter asked the crowd. "It's unlikely. But by voting for me, you’re allowing us to build a party that will defend your liberties.”

Keeping major party status — which requires two percent of the vote in the general election — is Porter's focus in the upcoming election. With 11,000 people registered as Libertarians in Iowa, Porter said he’s confident the party will be able to keep the status and bring in new supporters fed up with partisan politics.

"We're going to peel off people who are tired of the partisanship, people who don't like the attacks and who have gotten tired," he said. "For people who just wouldn't vote, who are just fed up, we can show them an alternative."

Porter became a Libertarian when he was 16 and served as the party's executive director until 2017. He previously ran for secretary of state in 2010 and 2014 and has worked on Libertarian presidential campaigns in the state.

The Libertarian Party and it's supporters don't have enough money to realistically compete with Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds and Democratic nominee Fred Hubbell's campaigns, Porter noted. And although he has major disagreements with both, he said he refuses to make personal attacks against his opponents.

"I wish I had Fred Hubbell's money," he said. "But I won't attack him because he's wealthy. We can be 'Iowa nice' and still disagree on the solutions for Iowa."

During his Soapbox speech, Porter talked about cutting and consolidating state agencies and boards, reducing "corporate welfare," and reforming the state's criminal justice system.

Porter said getting those policy changes enacted is still a goal, even if he doesn't become Iowa's next governor. By serving as a third-party candidate with a sizable voter base, he said he wants to push the Democrats and Republicans to take on more Libertarian stances in office.

Porter challenged Reynolds and Hubbell to a debate during his Soapbox speech.

"We're going to be at the debates," he said. "It's an opportunity for all Iowans to hear a different message, a different way."

More: View the stories, photos and video from all the candidates at DesMoinesRegister.com/Soapbox.