Iowans who back Libertarian Jake Porter for governor on Nov. 6 will be pushing forward important ideas, not throwing away their vote, the candidate said Tuesday.

A vote for the Republican or Democrat “means that a lot of the issues that are being ignored are going to keep being ignored,” Porter told Des Moines Register editors and writers. “A vote for me means these issues — we’re going to force them to be brought up.”

Porter’s leading stances include a promise to reform the criminal justice system, so fewer Iowans are sent to prison for problems related to addiction or mental health issues. He also contends the government could be run more efficiently, with fewer tax breaks for big businesses.

Porter has gained unusual levels of support in his third-party attempt to win the governor’s seat. Seven percent of likely voters say they plan to vote for Porter, according to an Iowa Poll published Sept. 22 in the Des Moines Register. That’s far behind Democratic candidate Fred Hubbell, who drew 43 percent support in the poll, and incumbent Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds, who drew 41 percent. But Porter's presence in the race could make a difference in the outcome.

Porter, 30, is a business consultant from Council Bluffs and a longtime member of the Libertarian Party. He pointed to the success of the Prohibition Party and the Socialist Party, which were active nationally in the early decades of the 20th century. Neither assumed power, but the Prohibition Party helped push through a national ban on alcohol, and many of the Socialist Party’s ideas were incorporated into the New Deal reforms championed by Democratic President Franklin Roosevelt.

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If the Libertarian Party continues to gain ground, it eventually could supplant one of the two main parties, as the Republican Party did to the Whig Party in the mid-1800s, he said.

Porter joked Tuesday about activists in both major parties complaining about his role in the race: “People are saying, ‘Oh, you’re costing Hubbell the election.’ The Reynolds people are saying, ‘You’re costing Reynolds the election.’ And I ask, ‘Which one is it? Am I costing both of them?’"

Porter spoke Tuesday morning to Register staffers, including members of the editorial board who will decide which candidate to endorse in the governor's race. Hubbell met with the board Tuesday afternoon. Reynolds has not yet scheduled a meeting with the Register editorial board.

Porter's priorities include reversing Iowa’s decision to have private companies run its $5 billion Medicaid program. That controversial shift was ordered in 2015 by then-Gov. Terry Branstad, a Republican.

Reynolds, who succeeded Branstad, defends the move, saying it is making Medicaid more sustainable for more than 600,000 poor or disabled Iowans who depend on it. Porter is among critics who say the shift has led to unfair cuts in health care services to vulnerable Iowans and unpaid bills to care providers.

Porter said it was a mistake for Branstad to unilaterally use his executive power to abruptly privatize the Medicaid system without asking health care professionals, patients and legislators to help craft the plan.

“The governor is not a dictator,” he said. “…When the governor acts as a dictator we get policies that it turns out do not work out very well for the people involved.”

He said that if he's elected governor, he would use his executive power to reverse the decision, but would confer with all players to figure out how to move forward with a state-run Medicaid program.

He said he also would stop Iowa’s practice of offering multimillion-dollar tax credit deals to try to coax big companies to come to Iowa or stay here.

“Gov. Reynolds thinks she can centrally plan the economy. I don’t think I’m smart enough to centrally plan an economy,” he said. “…I think the economy will pretty well plan itself. What you’ve got to do is you’ve got to get the government out of picking winners and losers in the marketplace.”

Porter also said he would like to phase out the state sales tax, which critics say falls most heavily on poorer people, but would allow local governments to decide whether they would have sales taxes.

Porter said he believes he could work with Democrats and Republicans in the Legislature if he became Iowa’s first Libertarian governor.

“There are many things we agree with Republicans on, and there are many things we agree with Democrats on,” he said. “And I’m also pretty nice, for the most part, I think I’ve been pretty nice. I can work with members of the Democrat and Republican parties.”