Special Feature: Interview with Lucas Overby, Libertarian candidate for Florida's 13th Congressional District

Libertarians and other third party candidates often consider it a win if they can poll between 5-10% of the vote, generally with the goal of securing either permanent ballot access or growing their brand with the hopes of someday gathering enough steam to win national elections.  One-time Republican Robert Sarvis's performance in last year's Virginia gubernatorial campaign is a good example of what was considered a very successful campaign for a Libertarian in a major state office.   He eventually secured 6.5% of the vote, third best ever by a Libertarian  gubernatorial candidate, but fell short of the 10% required by Virginia law to gain permanent party recognition and ballot access.  Various neoconservative and Republican pundits blamed Sarvis for the Democrat win rather than their running of a poor campaign with a not-widely liked candidate, however, post-election polling analysis showed Sarvis siphoning votes from both liberals and conservatives, indicating the strength and wide  appeal of the core party message.

If Sarvis's 2013 run is considered a better than average type performance, Lucas Overby is poised to completely shatter the perception of what a liberty candidate can do in a major office election.  Due to drop out by the Democratic candidate, Overby faces special election first term incumbent Republican David Jolly in a two horse race for Florida's 13th congressional district and is currently polling at a relatively massive (by LP standards) 31% and growing with four and a half months still to go. 

I was lucky enough to have the chance to have a 45 minute or so Facebook conversation with Mr. Overby and found him articulate, intelligent, and extremely quick with non-scripted answers. 

Photo:  www.lucasoverby.com

Locke's Left Hand: First things first, who is Lucas Overby, and why should someone vote for you?
Lucas Overby:  I'm a born and raised Florida native, grew up in the county I'm running in, so I've developed substantial local ties to the community. Like the majority of my district I come from a lower middle class family and work in industry. I'm a commercial diver by trade, which has afforded me the opportunity to work with just about every industry and governing body my constituents would ever deal with. My activist and working background give me a very divergent point of view from my opponent, a point of view I feel we are severely lacking in this country's leadership.  On the really generic stuff, I am married with a 4 year old daughter.
LLH: Now THAT is a full time job! 

LLH:  For people who aren't familiar with FL13, can you briefly tell us a little about your district?
LO:  FL13 is located entirely inside of Pinellas county which is home to Clearwater and St. Petersburg across the bridge from Tampa. We are in west central Florida.
LLH:  I grew up on the southern Atlantic coast of Florida.  If I remember correctly, Pinellas is a pretty blue collar county compared to across the bridge
LO:  The trades have really made their way over to the port, but a lot of the working groups still live in the Clearwater area, off of the beaches, and we also still have a very large service industry base here.

LLH:  If elected, what is your immediate priority as the rep for FL13?
LO:  Our first big target is tax reform. We have specifically targeted income tax reduction and code simplification. It is not only the best way to give immediate relief to working class families and jump start the small business and start up sectors, it affords us the opportunity to deal a substantial blow to the income tax itself. I also believe that social issues will be of very high importance over the next two years, with the rapid expansion of marijuana legalization and the overturning of laws banning (same sex) marriage, we will be looking for ways to decrease the drug war and increase equal protections under the law.
LLH:  Are the social issues where you see the biggest opportunity to siphon conservative voters from the incumbent?
LO:  Fiscal issues will be the best place to do that. The incumbent is a Republican who campaigned as a fiscal conservative and has done anything but deliver on that. Social issues will certainly help to secure the progressives and Democrats we need to continue close the gap
LLH: FL13 has been solidly red for a long time, yet went for Obama in the 2012 presidential election. Do you think that apparent trend of centrism gives you a better chance at picking up votes? 
LO:  In short, yes. This is a fully purple district, though I would also suggest that (former) Congressman Young was well loved by both sides and that really is what has kept the seat red. David Jolly is certainly no Bill Young.

 Photo credit:  Reason Magazine

LLH:  Polling at 31% (and growing) is a whopping number for an LP candidate in any race for a national office. To what do you attribute your high poll numbers? Do you think it's simply a case of the Dems bowing out, or do you think its more a case of the message of Libertarianism resonating with your district?
LO:  This is certainly not the first time the LP has been in a one on one race with an incumbent and 33% is the best finish with 18% being the best debut. I attribute a large amount of our early success to name recognition. We were in three major debates earlier this year and enjoyed the most media coverage a Libertarian has ever had in the state on FL.  I also think that our platform is one that can be brought to a broader voting bloc and we have had a lot of success doing that
LLH:  Florida's LP seems to be making big strides in that area with gubernatorial candidate Adrian Wyllie also gaining access to debate Rick Scott (R) and Charlie Crist (Ed. note: D/R/D/R/D).  The lack of a democratic challenger in your race definitely seems to have given you a much louder voice, but I don't think you'd be polling at those numbers if the message wasn't gaining traction as well.
LO:  I agree. Adrian and I campaign very differently and come from very different backgrounds, but I think it works extremely well on showing the diversity of the message. He and I have also both been on the campaign trail for well over a year and our special election was able to really push myself and Bill and Adrian to a much higher visibility.  Also, once they let one (more debater) in, its much easier to get more and it seems we may have broken that barrier as far as the debates go

LLH:  Just a brief touch on foreign policy, Do you have an opinion on the Bowe Bergdahl situation?
LO:  I am still developing one. To the dismay of some of my more aggressive detractors I still feel that there is far too much that we in the general public do not know as far as getting the soldier back is concerned. However, I do have a very strong level of concern with not appropriately notifying Congress, but again we are still looking into previous precedents, situational issues, among other nuances before immediately jumping on the band wagon of outright and aggressive condemnation.. I tend to not speak on issues I do not have a full grasp on, so as more information becomes available and as we can move away from the the strong rhetoric and get to the bottom of things I will make a more complete statement. Honestly, I think the very important question we are not asking is, why did we have prisoners at Gitmo to exchange in the first place?
LLH:  I think you hit it on the head, the rush to condemnation is appalling considering the lack of facts we have right now.  And aren't going to have to let them all go at the conclusion of this war anyway, due to the Geneva Conventions?
LO:  Technically no. we are not actually at war, and they technically aren't protected by Geneva, etc.  That is entirely different can of human rights violation worms
LLH:  Good point.

LLH:  The big shocker today was Eric Cantor's primary loss to a Tea Party Republican (David Brat). Do you think that is a good sign for liberty candidates or further evidence of Republican strife as the media is playing it?
LO:  I honestly don't know if it's a win for liberty per se.  I don't know the candidate that won. Simply beating Cantor I don't think ensures that liberty won the day. I will say that is could be a very big boost to opposition candidates for 2014. Either that or the Republicans just lost a seat in the house.  It really all depends on what kind of 'tea party' candidate he is.  More and more we have seen that title used to define aggressively statist to aggressively theist candidates
LLH:  I think the clock is definitely ticking on that seat for the Republicans with VA's recent voting records. I can't say I know a ton about him either, but outward appearances are that he's a much smaller government kind of guy than Cantor, and the loss was by something like 11%. It wasn't even close...
LO:  I just hope he supports liberty for all and not just the new tea party brand of liberty for me. That could just be a Florida thing though.
LLH:  I know exactly what you mean.  The, "liberty for everyone unless you choose to live different than me" type.
LO:  Exactly.  I feel that is extremely dangerous.  Economics can be debated on a reasonable and pragmatic level, religion, not so much
LLH:  Yes, and trading a bureaucrat for a theocrat is almost a zero sum game.
LO:  We actually have had a great deal of success integrating Libertarian economic concepts into progressive talking points, but still can't get the conservatives to not hate gay people!
LLH:  I get the feeling that a lot more Republican candidates would come over on at least some of the LGBT issues if they weren't terrified of losing their evangelicals, particularly in the south. The issue is hamstringing them at the national level.
LO:  Strong possibility, but on women's rights, minority issues, border issues, my hope (for the Republicans) is light.

LLH:  I very much appreciate your time tonight, do you have anything you want to say on the way out?
LO:  I'm always available for questions, this (Facebook) is the best way to reach me, but there's also my email lucas@lucasoverby.com. If anyone would like to get involved and help us close the gap on this race, we really need all the boots on the ground and right now all the donor support we can get. All of that information can be found at www.LucasOverby.com and people can donate at rally.org/lucasoverbyforcongress