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One such race is taking place in New Jersey’s 8th congressional district. Albio Sires the Democratic incumbent is up against both a Republican and Libertarian. Sires has been in office for 10 years but his name recognition is low. This is due to his district having a disproportionately high number of rental properties. Many renters tend to move within a couple of years requiring even Sires to re-introduce himself to his constituents.

 

This has given his opponents an unforeseen advantage in this year’s campaign. I recently spoke with Dan Delaney the Libertarian running against Sires. Here is that interview:

 

Jonathan: Very good to see you. So the way the district is set up is that 55% of residents are Hispanic and you’re running against incumbent Democrat and Cuban immigrant Albio Sires whose been serving since 2006.

 

Dan: Right.

 

Jonathan: So that’s quite a challenge to you.

 

Dan: Yeah it is. He has a pretty good stranglehold on the district but I’m here to shake things up.

 

Jonathan: Good. And what are you finding the response to be so far?

 

Dan: It’s kind of refreshing. Everybody that I meet. People also don’t focus too much on congressional elections. They’re very focused on the Presidency. Some people I found do know Albio personally and they’re all about him, but anybody else that doesn’t know him or hasn’t even heard of him as their representative – they’re always open to new ideas and they usually like what I have to say. It’s the perfect storm because with the two candidates Trump and Hillary everybody’s kind of pissed off; they don’t want to vote for them. Some people do know about Gary Johnson and they’re thinking about voting Libertarian. And even if they’re thinking about that, they’ll possibly look at me and see the Libertarian next to my name and pull the trigger. I think New Jersey alone is up I think 75% of registered Libertarians, which is huge considering it almost doubled just in one year.

 

Jonathan: New Jersey has one of the most restrictive gun laws in any state. As a Congressman what would you do to protect our safety and assure our freedoms?

 

Dan: So I think it’s borderline impossible to get a handgun in New Jersey. My father, it took him several years to get it, just to protect our house. And I think it’s a big deal make that path easier for law abiding responsible gun owners. Especially, allowing concealed carry is a huge deal. I think that should be allowed at a national level. So that’s something I would try to lobby for because if you’re a responsible gun owner concealed carrying a handgun you can stop a lot problems.

 

Jonathan: One of the problems with Sires is that he has voted 93% with the Democratic party and Menendez does the same exact thing. He just votes with the party and I think what American’s are looking for now is this level of thought and communication that I have a difference of opinion and I want somebody to represent that opinion and we don’t see it in either of the two parties. So I think that’s where the Libertarians are really gaining a lot of the momentum.

 

Dan: Yeah and I’m a big fan of that kind of. There are a few congressmen, namely representative Amash and Thomas Massi, who explain their votes almost all the time on their Facebook posts and they talk about why they voted yes or no on a bill. Which is way better then just vote with the party and staying silent on it. It’s been awesome to read what they say.

 

Jonathan: You often Tweet using the hashtag #taxationistheft what does that mean?

 

Dan: Before 1913 we didn’t have an income tax, we didn’t have the IRS and we still had roads and infrastructure and standing military. So there’s a lot of bloat in government that I’d like to see scaled back, and hopefully reduce taxation overall. We have to start over – throw out the tax code, start with a flat percentage. I’d like to see that percentage gradually go down year by year if we can start to cut bloat and cut wasteful spending in the government ideally. But yes, definitely start with a flat percentage.

 

Jonathan: Do you agree with Gary Johnson on eliminating the department of education?

 

Dan: Definitely, I would love to see education more localized; at a maximum at the state level. Even better if it’s local communities.

 

Jonathan: Dan Delaney running for Congress in New Jersey in the 8th congressional district. If you live there you should definitely be following this man on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram all of that will be in the description below. And it was great having you here. I really appreciate this.

 

Dan: Thank you so much for having me.