Majors

Sometimes you win even if you lose.

That was the case with Bruce Majors, a Libertarian challenger who lost his bid to unseat D.C. Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton but attracted 13,462 votes in the process, almost twice what he needed to gain major party status for the D.C. Libertarian Party.

With the result, the party will join the Democrats, Republicans and Statehood Greens as the political parties allowed to hold primaries and enjoy guaranteed ballot access. And yes, they’ll be moved off of the list of “minor” parties, which includes the likes of the Cocktail Party, the Communist Party, the One Minute Past Twelve Party, and the Theocratic Party.

It’s an interesting progression for Majors, a 56-year-old real estate agent who’s first claim to fame was his “Tea Party Guide to D.C.” He ran the campaign on $25,000, close to $18,000 of which was out of his own pocket. His best showings were on Capitol Hill—in Precinct 89 in Eastern Market he got 14 percent of the vote and in Precinct 130 by Stanton Park he managed 18.65 percent—and in Georgetown. Majors’ feat is even more surprising considering the fact that Libertarian Party presidential candidate Gary Johnson only got 1,634 votes.

According to Johnson campaign staffer and local libertarian organizer John Vaught LaBeaume, the party plans on holding a convention soon and will adopt bylaws that comport with D.C. Board of Elections regulations.