About the Candidate
Name: Bill Redpath
DOB: Oct. 9, 1957
Occupation: Business Appraiser & Financial Consultant in Media, Telecom & Satellite
Political Experience: Chairman, Libertarian National Committee, 2006-2010; served over 21 years on the Libertarian National Committee; six-time candidate for public office in Virginia, including Governor (2001), US Senate (2008), and US House, 10th District (2010 & 2014).
Website: billredpath.com
Twitter: @BillRedpath2020
Candidate Statement
I’m Bill Redpath, Libertarian candidate for U.S. House of Representatives in the 6th District of Illinois. Hey, this is WTTW, so I presume that you already know what libertarianism is. But, I am sometimes asked why are you running for an office you’re such a longshot to win? I’m running for this office in 2020, because elections in this nation should be about more than electoral horse races and having to choose between the lesser of two evils. And, with the exception of statewide offices, that is almost always all you have to choose from in Illinois.
Reason magazine ranked the ballot access laws of Illinois second among all states in the difficulty faced by third party and independent candidates to get on the ballot. It would normally take the signatures of 16,000 registered voters in my highly gerrymandered congressional district to get on the ballot. Because the Shelter‐in‐Place order made petitioning in public impossible for much of the petitioning period this year, a federal judge lowered the required number of signatures to a reasonable number—something the state legislature and Governor refused to do—and I was able to get on the ballot.
Rather than trying to exclude non‐Democratic and non‐Republican candidates from the ballot, Illinois should make ballot access far easier and adopt Ranked Choice Voting. With that, voters rank their candidates in order of preference. Ranked Choice Voting does away with the so‐called “spoiler effect” of third party and independent candidates, which is a likely major reason behind difficult ballot access laws.
Ranked Choice Voting can be used in single winner elections. But, legislative elections don’t have to be run as single winner elections. We can have legislatures elected through multimember districts using Ranked Choice Voting, which is a form of proportional representation. Voters would have far more choice than they have now. In each multimember district, you’d have several candidates from each party and independent candidates who would have to clearly state what they are for. Simply saying “Vote for me, because I’m not the other candidate” wouldn’t cut it anymore.
You can see online how Ranked Choice Voting works. My website is billredpath.com and if you live in the 6th District in Illinois, I respectfully ask for your vote.
Candidate Q&A
Why are you running?
I want there to be a Libertarian voice in this election and to give the people of the 6th Congressional District an alternative to the candidates of the two older parties. Neither Republicans nor Democrats present an appealing vision of limited government for the future and both parties are responsible for the fiscal insanity in Washington. Also, if I earn at least 5% of the vote, it will be much easier for a Libertarian to get on the ballot in this Congressional District in 2022.
What is your vision for this office?
While I realize that I am a longshot to win this office, if I were elected, I would work consistently for greater economic and personal freedoms for the people of the 6th District and the entire United States.
What do you think is the most pressing issue facing your constituents and how do you plan on addressing it?
I think the most pressing issue is to restrain, and hopefully cut, government spending in order to prevent a future debt crisis for this nation that would at least greatly harm economic growth, but might plunge the nation into a depression.
