Ruth Bennett

Ruth Bennett is Vice-Chair of Outright Libertarians and was formerly chair of the Libertarian Party of Washington and the Libertarian Party of Colorado.

Raised in Longview, Washington, Bennett majored in anthropology at Washington State University, graduating in 1975. She discovered libertarianism after moving to Colorado. In 1979-80, she worked on the campaign of the Libertarian Party's candidate for U.S. president, Ed Clark. She supported the transfer of land owned by the federal government to private ownership. In the 1980s, she chaired the Libertarian Party and helped organize the party's national convention. She campaigned twice for a seat in the Colorado House of Representatives, winning 4.5% of the vote. In 1984, she was one of the successful plaintiffs in a federal district court case, Baer v. Meyer, that challenged Colorado's election statutes and voter registration procedures. Judge James R. Carrigan ruled, "Viewed in their totality, the Colorado election laws and practices challenged by the plaintiffs affirmatively favor the Democratic and Republican parties while denying other parties the organizational tools and recognition needed to compete effectively for votes."

In 2000, Bennett, then working as a travel agent, was the Libertarian nominee for the office of Lieutenant Governor of Washington state. She campaigned on a platform of abolishing the position of Lieutenant Governor. She said: "I want to abolish the office. The sooner the better.... In the day and age of jet planes and cell phones and computers, I don't think it matters anymore." She obtained 7.81% of the vote, enough to qualify the Libertarian Party for ballot access in the next election. In 2002, she ran for the state House of Representatives in Washington's 37th legislative district, opposing a state income tax while three Democratic candidates favored it in the liberal district.

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