Tom Pruss: ‘I’m happy to offer an alternative to the red and blue paradigm’
Story and photos by Lori King
SYLVANIA – While local democrats and republicans gathered for their respective election watch parties Tuesday night, Tom Pruss was the sole candidate for the libertarian party.
Pruss, running against political powerhouses Marcy Kaptur and Derek Merrin for the U.S. House of Representatives Ohio District 9 seat, was the first to arrive at his watch party at Sidelines Sports Eatery & Pub.
Pruss, a Toledo resident, carried in a political sign that promoted three libertarian candidates: Chase Oliver for president; Don Kissick for United States senate; and himself. He propped the sign up against a wall, sat at a table, opened a laptop and settled into what would be a long night of monitoring election results.
While he waited for his supporters to show up, he took the opportunity to explain why he was in the race and what was at stake.
“This is just the beginning because we just regained ballot access this year,” Pruss said. “Because of the strict Ohio election laws the republicans passed just two years ago, they made it quite hard for third parties to get on the ballot. So Chase Oliver has to get at least 3 percent of the vote in Ohio just to make us relevant to be on the ballot again.
“If we don’t (get 3 percent), that means we spend millions of dollars paying people to go out and get petitions and signatures, and that’s hard money that a third party just can’t afford. I think it’s very daunting, honestly,” he admitted. Oliver ended up with 567, 492 votes, or 0.4 percent.
Pruss said their goal is to field more candidates for more seats, and that people seem to think libertarians only come out every four years to run somebody for president. “No, we have people all over the country holding office. In fact, Cassaundra Fryman, the mayor of Plymouth, Ohio, has been mayor for two terms, but you’re not gonna see that on television. We’re all over the place.”
Pruss described libertarians as ordinary people who have a passion for their country, and that “we believe in freedoms that are God-given to us. As I was telling somebody earlier today, the constitution doesn’t tell us the freedoms we have, it’s to tell the government the limits that they to govern over us, and that’s where people make the disconnect,” he explained.
When asked about taking votes away from the other parties, he bluntly stated “horse hockey. People are going to vote for me because they are going to vote for me. Are you going to tell Marcy Kaptur that she’s taking votes away from Derek Merrin and vice versa? That makes no sense to me.
“I have people who with good conscience could not vote for either one. I’m happy to offer an alternative. As my slogan is, I’m not left; I’m not right. I’m sensibly centered,” he said.
Pruss said his platform is a true smaller government, “not what republicans would consider smaller government. The difference between the republicans and democrats is that democrats are on a bus going 100 miles an hour towards a cliff; republicans say, ‘Oh, hold on here! Let’s go 90 miles an hour.’ Both heading for that same cliff at full rate. Libertarians are like, let’s put on the brake, let’s pause and take a look to see what we’re doing with our money.”
He added that “every year that Marcy Kaptur is in office, she’s voting for arms to blow up innocent children all over the world in my name. I don’t like that. Conversley, I don’t like Derek Merrin being in Columbus passing legislation that doesn’t grant everybody bodily autonomy. The insanity has to stop.”
Pruss said he was happy to offer an alternative to the red and blue paradigm that everybody thinks they’re forced to have to vote for, and that you shouldn’t be forced to vote for the lesser of two evils because the lesser of two evils is still evil. “I just want to go out there and earn people’s vote, as an independent, as a libertarian. Ideally, I want to be a spoiler.
“I’ll think I’ll run away with 15 votes,” he quipped.
“Hey, it’s a start,” responded Scott Macy, a libertarian who voted for Pruss and then came straight to the watch party.
He told Pruss, who was complaining about the media ignoring him, that “I think you started something (on Facebook) because you talked about how nobody wanted to know you.” Macy insinuated they clearly did.
After about an hour, Pruss was surrounded by a dozen supporters who said they all voted for him. Pruss ended up earning 4 percent of the vote.
For complete election results, go to WTOL Election 2024.
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