The Libertarian Party’s Parity Project is a strategic initiative launched by the Libertarian National Committee (LNC) aimed at growing the party’s size, visibility, and electoral competitiveness to “match” or reach parity with the two major U.S. parties within a ten-year time frame.
Core Objective
The Parity Project seeks to elevate the Libertarian Party from limited visibility into a national political force comparable to the Democratic and Republican parties in terms of:
Number of libertarian voters and self-identified supporters
Donors and financial resources
Visibility in media and public awareness
Electoral success at various levels of government
Strategic Approach
The project’s strategy emphasizes what we describe as “discovery before persuasion”:
Instead of primarily trying to convert non-libertarians, the initiative focuses first on finding and activating people who already self-identify as libertarian, libertarian-leaning, or libertarian-curious.
The plan starts with an existing database of roughly one million contacts, which the party intends to expand by appending updated contact information and engaging individuals with targeted questions about their political alignment.
Respondents who express interest would be added to the party’s outreach lists and engaged through regular updates, reports, and fundraising appeals.
Tactics and Tools
Key elements of execution include:
Database expansion and data enhancement using commercial sources and ad targeting.
Email campaigns and social media advertising to identify and engage libertarian-aligned individuals.
Leadership and Resources
The project is led by strategist Perry Willis, with advice from Jim Babka, and uses data and advertising services provided by a firm called Iron Light.
Initial fundraising goals are modest, with plans to secure tens of thousands of dollars to start enhancements and outreach efforts.
Broader Rationale
The underlying premise of the Parity Project is that a significant segment of the U.S. population already holds libertarian-aligned views or identifies as libertarian; by systematically discovering and organizing these individuals, we believe we can build the momentum, resources, and visibility necessary to operate as a truly competitive third party.