Libertarian candidates ask court to put them back on 2026 ballot

Libertarian candidate for governor Nicholas Gluba and his running mate, Jules Cutler, are asking the courts to return their ticket to the ballot after being removed by the State Objection Panel.

The appeal was filed Tuesday in Polk County District Court. It challenges the objection panel’s June 15 decision that the Libertarian candidates would not appear on the Nov. 3, 2026 general election ballot for Iowa governor. The panel found that Cutler did not submit an affidavit of candidacy as lieutenant governor by the 5 p.m. deadline on June 2.

Submitting this paperwork is a necessary step for the ticket to make it onto the ballot. But at the panel meeting, Cutler and her attorney, Jacob Heard, said she was told by Dani Phillips, an elections support specialist for the secretary of state’s office, that she was not required to submit an affidavit of candidacy. Cutler and Heard said this exchange took place when Cutler came with Gluba to the office, where he filed his paperwork and nomination petitions for ballot access.

Phillips told the panel she did not receive Cutler’s affidavit of candidacy when the Libertarian candidates came to the office, and said she was not asked if Cutler needed to file the paperwork as a lieutenant governor candidate. Cutler and Heard questioned Phillips’ memory of the day, because the elections support specialist also said she did not know if Cutler was in attendance when she accepted Gluba’s paperwork. The Libertarian candidate also said she had not been provided camera footage of the secretary of state’s office lobby June 2, which would have shown she was present when the paperwork was filed

The petition seeking judicial review of the State Objection Panel decision argued the panel’s decision “was the product of decision making undertaken by persons who were improperly constituted as a decision-making (body), were motivated by an improper purpose, and were subject to disqualification.”

The panel is typically made up of three members, Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate, Attorney General Brenna Bird, and Iowa Auditor Rob Sand. Sand, who is the Democratic nominee for Iowa governor in 2026, recused himself from the panel and was replaced by Iowa Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig, making the panel fully Republican.

The Libertarians argued Sand should have been replaced by Gov. Kim Reynolds on the panel under state law, in addition to arguing Pate should have recused himself as the employer of Phillips, “whose credibility was directly at issue in determining whether to sustain the objection.”

The petition also argues the objection itself is not valid grounds for the panel to take Gluba and Cutler off the ballot, stating Iowa Code only allows objections to be made to “the legal sufficiency of a certificate of nomination or nomination petition” or “to the eligibility of a candidate.”

Libertarian candidates, as well as the national Libertarian Party, have accused Republican officials of attempting to keep Libertarians off the ballot for partisan purposes. Iowa’s gubernatorial race between Sand and Republican Zach Lahn is expected to be highly competitive. Other Iowa elections, including the races for U.S. Senate and several House seats, are also rated as “toss-ups” by political forecasters.

The State  Objection Panel heard two other challenges to Libertarian candidates’ place on the ballot. The panel ruled June 15 to take Libertarian candidate Marco Battaglia off the ballot because the name he is running under is different from his legal name, Mark T. Anderson. Battaglia said he also plans to challenge the panel’s ruling in court, but had yet to file a petition as of Thursday.

The panel did not accept a challenge to Libertarian candidate Rick Stewart’s place on the ballot, running for Iowa’s 2nd Congressional District. He had submitted paperwork identifying himself as “Rick Stewart” on his affidavit of candidacy, which differed from the name used on some nominating petitions, “Richard Stewart.” Pate said it was “very common for candidates to run using shortened versions of their names.”

Though Stewart’s campaign remains on the ballot, the candidate said he was contacted by U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who urged him to drop out and suggested he could make an “agreement” with the candidate, according to reporting from The Washington Post.

Battaglia said Kennedy Jr. also contacted him about ending his campaign, as did U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn, who is seeking reelection in the 3rd District. Annie Kuhle, a campaign adviser for Nunn who submitted one of the challenges to Battaglia’s 3rd District  nomination, and the Nunn campaign said they had contacted the Libertarian candidate because of concerns that he had collected signatures to qualify for the ballot using a third-party organization without proper reporting.