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In the American political scene dominated by the GOP-Democrat duopoly, Libertarians like Kentucky congressional candidate Jeremy Todd are looking to offer voters an alternative as they head to the polls during the midterm elections.
“I think ultimately the Republican party has abandoned…true conservatism, small government principles,” Todd told Fox News Digital this week, asserting that “they may be more conservative than Democrats, but, to us true conservatives, that’s not good enough.”
Todd, who views himself as “right of MAGA,” mounted his long-shot U.S. House bid after incumbent GOP Rep. Thomas Massie lost the Republican primary in Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District to Trump-backed former Navy SEAL Ed Gallrein. Democratic congressional candidate Melissa Strange is also running in the contest.
“We are welcoming people who are conservative, who believe in small, limited government, to my campaign and then to a larger movement that is probably gonna need to exist post the downfall of the Republican party,” Todd said.
Former National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent, who quit his post earlier this year due to his opposition to the Iran war, and former Rep. Ron Paul have both backed Todd.
TRUMP-BACKED CANDIDATE ED GALLREIN CALLS KENTUCKY WIN A ‘DAVID VS. GOLIATH’ VICTORY AFTER DEFEATING MASSIE
Libertarian congressional candidate Jeremy Todd, left, and Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky. (Photo provided to Fox News Digital by Jeremy Todd; Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
In a Pew Research survey of U.S. adults released earlier this month, 5% of registered voters indicated that they would vote for another candidate other than the GOP and Democratic candidates in the U.S. House race in their district, while 15% were not sure about how they would vote. The poll, carried out Sept. 28-Oct. 4, had a margin of error among registered voters of plus or minus 1.8 percentage points.
Todd is not the only Libertarian running this election cycle looking to make an impact — but no candidate running under the Libertarian Party has ever been elected to the U.S. Congress.
Former Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan, who switched from Republican to Independent and then to Libertarian during his final term, became “the first LP member to serve in Congress,” according to the Libertarian National Committee — but Amash, who served in the House for a decade, won all of his elections as a Republican.
Libertarian candidate Ted Brown is on the ballot for the 2026 Texas U.S. Senate race that features Trump-backed state Attorney General Ken Paxton and Democratic state Rep. James Talarico.
NOT EVEN SKY HIGH GAS PRICES OR THE IRAN WAR WILL STOP TRUMP SUPPORTERS VOTING MAGA
President Donald Trump listens as Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the Republican U.S. Senate candidate, speaks at a campaign rally on Oct. 27, 2026, in Lubbock. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Brown earned only about 2.36% of the vote in the 2024 Texas U.S. Senate contest won by incumbent GOP Sen. Ted Cruz. He dismissed the criticism he says he gets regularly from Republicans that he is merely spoiling Paxton’s chances.
“They could avoid that problem by nominating a better candidate,” Brown said, noting that he delivers Democrats the same message.
“You can’t spoil a system that’s already rotten,” Brown stated. “There are a lot of people making a protest vote, and there’s good reason to.”
Bill Redpath, a former Libertarian National Committee (LNC) chair who is currently listed as an at-large LNC representative, is running in the special Ohio U.S. Senate race where Trump-backed Republican Sen. Jon Husted faces former Sen. Sherrod Brown, a Democrat.
Redpath earned less than 2% of the vote in a 2022 Illinois U.S. Senate bid.
Todd, while speaking to Fox News Digital, urged voters not to “buy into the lesser of two evils talk. Make sure you get out there and vote and give us a real shot because we can win this.”
GOP REP THOMAS MASSIE INTRODUCES 8 ARTICLES OF IMPEACHMENT AGAINST WAR SECRETARY PETE HEGSETH
Todd, who supports Massie’s bid to impeach War Secretary Pete Hegseth and the congressman’s push to pass the Epstein Files Transparency Act II, is a fiscal hawk who advocates slashing government spending to address the much-discussed “affordability” issue.
“The affordability crisis is not a hoax,” he said, suggesting that younger individuals particularly face this “stark reality.”
“The only answer is we’ve got to cut government spending so that we stop money printing, so that we stop debasing and devaluing the currency and their wages have an opportunity to catch up. That’s ultimately what’s happening is we’re printing money faster than wages can keep up with and it’s kind of left an entire generation behind to the benefit of asset holders,” Todd said.
“The easiest way you can cut government spending is get out of these stupid conflicts. We should not be paying billions of dollars to Ukraine to fight Russia. We should not be paying billions of dollars to come to Israel’s defense,” Todd asserted. “And last but not least, we should get out of this conflict in Iran. Just leave.”
WHY THE HOUSE LET OUT EARLY IS A MATTER OF DEBATE AFTER JOHNSON SAYS CHAMBER HAS ‘DONE ITS WORK’
In a Sunday post on X, Todd called President Trump “a warmonger.”
During the Fox News Digital interview, Todd credited Trump with forging “the greatest coalition we’ve maybe ever seen in politics,” noting that Trump delivered a speech at the Libertarian National Convention in 2024 to appeal to the voting bloc.
“We believe that the job of the United States military is not to wage endless regime-change wars around the globe,” Trump told that Libertarian gathering in 2024, but “to defend America from attack and invasion here at home.”
Todd said since delivering that speech, Trump has gone “back on all but essentially one of the promises, which is border security.”
“We’ve not gotten deportations to the level that we wanted. We’ve gotten into another stupid and maybe the biggest and most ridiculous Middle Eastern conflict,” Todd said.
MTG SAYS GOP’S FUTURE ‘DESTROYED’ AFTER TRUMP-BACKED PRIMARY CHALLENGER DEFEATS THOMAS MASSIE
President Donald Trump watches as Republican congressional candidate Ed Gallrein speaks during a midterm rally on Oct. 17, 2026, in Highland Heights, Ky. (Eric Lee/Getty Images)
The White House did not respond to Fox News Digital’s requests for comment.
In a statement provided to Fox News Digital, Republican National Committee national press secretary Natalie Baldassarre declared, “President Trump has endorsed Ed Gallrein, a Navy SEAL and fifth-generation farmer who will represent the needs of working families in Congress. Republicans are focused on electing America First Republicans in Kentucky and around the country.”
GOP FISCAL HAWK SOUNDS ALARM ON ‘OUT OF CONTROL’ FEDERAL SPENDING, SAYING ‘BOTH PARTIES HAVE FAILED US’
Trump, who has been traveling to various states to campaign for Republican candidates amid midterm election season, rallied in Kentucky’s 4th Congressional District earlier this month, blasting Massie as “the worst.”
Fox News Digital reached out to Massie to find out whether he’ll vote in the congressional race, and, if so, how he will cast his ballot.
“I won’t be voting for the AIPAC candidate,” Massie tersely texted Fox News Digital, referring to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
Reports indicate that millions in AIPAC-linked funds were poured into the primary, with The New York Times saying, “This year, one of the group’s most high-profile wins was the ouster of Mr. Massie, a seven-term congressman who has called for ending military aid to Israel.”
EX-HOUSE FREEDOM CAUCUS CHAIR SAYS GOP ISN’T ‘A CONSERVATIVE PARTY ANYMORE,’ BUT DEMOCRATS ARE ‘WORSE’
President Donald Trump shakes hands with Sen Jon Husted, R-Ohio, during a campaign rally at the Butler-Vandalia Student Activity Center on Oct. 3, 2026 in Vandalia, Ohio. (Roberto Schmidt/Getty Images)
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IPAC did not provide comment to Fox News Digital for this report.
The Gallrein campaign responded to Fox News Digital’s request for comment on Massie with the following statement: “It is tragically fitting that his last act as congressman would be to once again, turn his back on his district and his party by siding with radical Democrats. This is exactly why voters fired him in May.”
In an interview with a local news station, Todd said that he would never run against Massie, but now, he’s “running for him.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report