The Toledo Blade’s latest editorial on the 9th Congressional District makes one thing painfully clear: they still see voters as chess pieces, not people.
Once again, the Blade dusts off the tired “spoiler” narrative — the idea that Libertarians exist only to sabotage whichever major-party candidate the paper prefers. That mindset exposes the real problem: the Blade believes only Democrats and Republicans are entitled to run, and only candidates they approve of are “legitimate.”
If their logic were taken seriously, elections would be reduced to a permission slip from the editorial board. Want to run? Better make sure the Blade thinks you’re allowed.
That’s not democracy. That’s gatekeeping.
Let’s get something straight: Libertarians do not take votes from Republicans or Democrats. We earn votes from people who reject both. When Tom Pruss ran in 2024, 15,381 voters didn’t accidentally vote Libertarian. They deliberately rejected the two-party system. Those voters did not “belong” to Derek Merrin, Marcy Kaptur, or the Blade.
They belonged to themselves.
The Blade also tries to imply that David Gedert’s candidacy somehow reshuffles who Libertarians are allowed to be. That’s nonsense. The only real difference between David Gedert and Tom Pruss is packaging — not principles. Both stand for smaller government, personal freedom, economic liberty, and a rejection of bureaucratic control over people’s lives.
If you supported Tom Pruss two years ago, you are not betraying anything by supporting David Gedert now. The platform didn’t change — the messenger did.
And that’s something the Blade seems deeply uncomfortable with.
Libertarianism doesn’t belong to any one demographic. It belongs to white, Black, straight, gay, male, female, binary, non-binary — everyone who believes their life is not owned by the state. A drag queen Libertarian doesn’t “reset” the party. It proves what we’ve said all along: liberty doesn’t care what you look like, who you love, or how you express yourself.
The Blade frames this race as if voters must choose which major party gets “spoiled.” But real voters don’t think that way. They think: Who actually represents me?
More choices don’t weaken democracy — they expose how hollow the two-party monopoly really is.
Northwest Ohio, Ohio, and the entire country had better get used to it:
You’re going to see more candidates, more voices, and more competition.
That’s not chaos.
That’s freedom.
