Republican Liberty Caucus Update

In June, the former 2024 vice presidential nominee of the Libertarian Party, Mike ter Maat, left the LP for the Republican Liberty Caucus. He perceived the RLC as the better to promote the cause of liberty.

In a one-on-one interview during the Republican Liberty Caucus of Florida's Biennial Convention, Mr. ter Maat gave a progress report on the work the RLC has done since he and 40-plus other Libertarians joined the caucus.

Mike ter Maat at the Radisson Resort at the Port in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

"We've reached out to people in the Republican Party and Libertarian Party to find individuals to create new chapters in the states where the RLC doesn't have chapters," he commented while standing outside a pavilion within the Radisson Resort at the Port in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

The RLC's efforts, since Mr. ter Maat, et al., joined, have resulted in approximately 12 groups working towards the initiation of a state chapter. In all, there are roughly 30 states that the RLC is canvassing in search of people who want to be chairpersons or administrative heads.

Virginia, "has gone all the way through the process," Mr. ter Maat said.

Interested parties can rely on Virginia's success. The Republican Liberty Caucus of Virginia has a Word doc that they are offering to would be state chapters to use as a template. All they need to do is "rip out the Virginia branding," Mr. ter Mat explained. "Chapters are just getting off the ground, and they don't have a lot of labor and resources, so anything we can do to make it easy for them."

What happens after a state RLC chapter is operational?  "In Virginia, we'll be able to reach out and say, we've got a chapter up and running and now we'll be in the process of endorsing certain candidates for the state house and local elections," he said.

The national RLC "has a lot of data in these states where they don't have a chapter, right now," Mr. ter Maat informed.  The data has membership rolls that might not be up to date. "So we've been working hard at cleaning up that old data and distributing it to the new chairpersons in the states so that they can reach out and…find some individuals."

A selling point for starting a state chapter is the notion of local control. The idea of a monthly conference call that has a high-ranking RLC official weighing in on what a chapter should do, Mr. ter Maat believes, isn't going to motivate folk to initiate a chapter.

He claims no title within the RLC. It's apparent that he is comfortable that way. Mr. ter Maat said that he'd like to be known as a helper. But make no mistake about his role within the caucus: "It's my full-time job."

RLC Texas Convention focus is clarity in liberty, courage in Leadership, confrontation in accountability.

To that end, he will be going to the RLC Texas Convention, scheduled for Sept. 26-27 at the Dale Carnegie Training of Austin in Round Rock.

Mr. ter Maat is also visiting Iowa, twice, once in September then again in December.  To look for folk that want to start a chapter, "Because Iowa is an important state, because it's an early primary state. So we want to have a chapter there to either support a candidate in the presidential primary or at least influence the candidates that are going to be running."

Political endorsements will also be on a local level for "all the state house reps and anything more local than that," Mr. ter Maat said. "If it's a federal candidate… the RLC National Board will decide."

Other trips on his docket include a November stop in New Hampshire. Similar to Iowa, Mr. ter Maat will be looking for interested parties to begin a state chapter. "We've already started developing a couple of good relationships in New Hampshire," he commented.

Those relationships include the Free State Project. The Free State Project self-describes as a movement of thousands of freedom-loving people living in a New Hampshire community that values a pro-liberty culture. The idea of the community is to turn the tide against big government while experiencing the benefits of expanded personal and economic freedoms.

Mr. ter Maat speaking at the Florida Republican Liberty Caucus.

For the balance of this year, Mr. ter Maat's main goal is increasing RLC membership. The RLC believes increased membership will result in better relationships with legislators. Throw in their endorsements and the RLC will find itself "affecting the races and thereby getting our message out and supporting our principles and getting attention and, hopefully we can do enough of that to make a little bit of a difference by the midterms," he explained.

There are approximately 10 states that have an RLC Chapter at the moment. "Florida and Texas are the big ones." he said. Considering those 10, the near dozen states in the process of creating a chapter and the goal of having around 30, Mr. ter Maat allowed, "We have our work cut out for us."

Mike ter Maat

Republican Liberty Caucus

(From its website) The Republican Liberty Caucus is the only GOP organization with the guts to expose voting records that betray conservative principles. Primary establishment Republicans who break their promises. Endorse only candidates who sign our Liberty Compact. Score every politician on their actual votes, not their rhetoric.

Please like, comment, and share.

You can sign up for exclusives and first-to-know news.

Thank you for reading.

` Photo Credit: Me, Mike ter Maat's social media. Republican Liberty Caucus of Texas

~30~