Michael Badnarik

He raised nearly $450,000 for his campaign and received the Libertarian Party of Texas nomination for its 10th district Congressional candidate.

He received 7,603 votes, or four percent, in the November election, losing to Republican incumbent Michael T. McCaul, who received 55 percent of the vote, and Democrat Ted Ankrum, who got 40 percent.

Michael James Badnarik (August 1, 1954 – August 11, 2022) was an American software engineer, political figure, and radio talk show host.

Badnarik first ran for public office in 2000 as a Libertarian, earning 15,221 votes (17%)

in a race for the Texas legislature district 47.

In 2002 he ran for the district 48 seat receiving 1,084 votes, or 2%.

Badnarik was a member of the libertarian Free State Project.

In February 2003, Badnarik announced his candidacy for the Libertarian Party's presidential nomination and spent the following 18 months traveling the country, teaching a course on the United States Constitution to dozens of libertarian groups.

He has written a book, Good To Be King: The Foundation of our Constitutional Freedom (ISBN 1-59411-096-4) on the subject of constitutional law; the book was first self-published by Badnarik, but was released in hardcover in October 2004.

Badnarik was viewed as unlikely to win the Libertarian presidential nomination, facing challenges from talk-show host Gary Nolan and Hollywood producer Aaron Russo.

He was the Libertarian Party nominee for President of the United States in the 2004 elections, and placed fourth in the race, behind independent candidate Ralph Nader and the two major party candidates, George W. Bush and John Kerry.

At the 2004 Libertarian National Convention, Badnarik gained substantial support following the candidates' debate (broadcast live on C-SPAN).

In what was then the closest presidential nomination race in the Libertarian Party's history, all three candidates polled within 12 votes of each other on the first ballot (Russo 258, Badnarik 256, Nolan 246).

When the second ballot placed the candidates in the same order, Gary Nolan was eliminated and threw his support to Badnarik; Badnarik won the nomination on the third ballot 417 to 348, with None of the Above receiving six votes.

Richard Campagna of Iowa City, Iowa, was elected separately by convention delegates as his vice-presidential nominee.

Some members of the party disapproved of Badnarik becoming the presidential nominee, feeling that he would be unable to draw media attention that many had felt Russo would have.

Libertarian blogger Julian Sanchez called Badnarik "embarrassing."

Badnarik's capture of the nomination was widely regarded as a surprise by many within the party; both Nolan and Russo had outpaced him in both fundraising and poll results prior to the convention.

Badnarik commented following his success at the national convention, "If I can win the nomination, there's no reason I can't win this election."

Badnarik and Green Party candidate David Cobb were arrested in St. Louis, Missouri, on October 8, 2004, for an act of civil disobedience.

Badnarik and Cobb were protesting their exclusion from the presidential debates of the 2004 presidential election campaign.

They were arrested after crossing a police barricade in an attempt to serve an Order to Show Cause to the Commission on Presidential Debates.

Badnarik was not the only member of his family running in the 2004 cycle.

His mother, Elaine Badnarik, was nominated by the Libertarian Party for lieutenant governor of Indiana in the 2004 Indiana gubernatorial election.

By the end of the election cycle, Badnarik's presidential campaign had raised just over one million dollars (US), obtained ballot access in 48 states plus the District of Columbia (the Libertarian Party failed to obtain ballot access in Oklahoma and New Hampshire, although Badnarik was a qualified write-in candidate in New Hampshire), and placed nationwide political advertisements on CNN and Fox News, in addition to local advertising buys in the important swing states of Wisconsin, New Mexico, Nevada, and Arizona.

No national polls including Badnarik had put him above 1.5%, though one poll put him at 5% in New Mexico and another at three percent in Nevada.

A Rasmussen poll on October 26, 2004, put Badnarik at 3% in Arizona.

Badnarik received 397,265 votes nationwide in the November 2, 2004, election, taking 0.3 percent of the popular vote and placing fourth, 68,385 votes behind Ralph Nader but 12,834 votes better than the party's 2000 election results.

Badnarik spent most of early 2005 touring the nation and giving speeches.

He also taught a class on the U.S. Constitution, using his experiences on the campaign trail to develop his lesson plan.

In August 2005, Badnarik announced that he would run for the U.S. House of Representatives in the 2006 election.

Two years later Badnarik ran as a Libertarian Party candidate in the 2006 congressional elections for Texas's 10th congressional district seat near Austin.

In a three candidate field, Badnarik came in third, receiving 7,603 votes for 4.3% of the vote.

Badnarik's political philosophy emphasizes individual liberty, personal responsibility, and strict adherence to an originalist interpretation of the U.S. Constitution.

All of his positions arise from this foundation.

In economics, Badnarik believes in laissez-faire capitalism, a system in which the only function of the government is the protection of individual rights from the initiation of force and fraud.

He, therefore, opposes institutions such as welfare and business regulation.

A December 2006 letter from his campaign manager, Alan Hacker, states that Badnarik has "retired from political candidacy" and is now working as an account representative for a political and novelty bumper sticker mail-order business.

Badnarik delivered a keynote speech at the 2007 New Hampshire Liberty Forum, where he announced his endorsement for Ron Paul, U.S. Congressman from Texas 14th district, in the 2008 presidential election.

He ran for the 10th Congressional District of Texas, which is currently represented by Republican Michael McCaul.