STAUNTON Libertarian Will Hammer will take another crack at the House of Delegates 20 District seat this fall. The lifelong Staunton resident announced his candidacy on Friday evening, taking aim at the controversial Atlantic Coast Pipeline, and advocating for marijuana legalization.

The incumbent, Del. Richard Dickie Bell, R-Staunton, has held the seat since 2010. He easily won election in 2009, and has cruised in his three successive bids, winning at least 70 percent of the vote each time.

Hammer will try to break Bells grip on the seat in the November election this year, but he will likely have an uphill climb to do it. He polled 24 percent of the vote in 2015, a respectable showing for a third-party candidate, though he was also the only challenger on the ballot that year. The Democratic Party did not put up a candidate against Bell in 2015.

Hammer hopes to capitalize on voters frustration with incumbents from both parties, something that helped propel outsider Donald Trump to the presidency last year. While the rhetoric from the 2016 campaign has cooled somewhat, still-simmering skepticism from the electorate could open the door for a third-party candidate or independent in local and state races this fall, analysts say.

I believe that my strong showing in 2015 and the growing distrust and distaste for the two major parties, specifically incumbents, represents a great opportunity to go to Richmond as a third-party candidate, Hammer said in a press release.

He also hopes the controversy of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline will buoy his chances this year. Property rights a key issue for the Libertarian Party has been one of the defining issues in protests against the pipeline.

I will fight against the Dominion pipeline because property rights are sacred, Hammer said, referring to the company heading up the effort to build the conduit.

In addition, he vows to end gerrymandering and corruption, and to bring transparency to Richmond, if elected. Gun rights and marijuana legalization are also planks on his platform. While the former will no doubt play well in the conservative district, particularly in its more rural precincts, the latter may turn some hard-line law-and-order voters, especially senior citizens, off from his candidacy.

But Hammer sees legalizing marijuana as an economic issue, more than anything else.

[It] will reduce government expenditure and create a booming new industry, which means thousands of jobs, he said in the release.

A 2009 graduate of Hampden-Sydney College, Hammer describes himself as an entrepreneur and libertarian activist.

He was awarded the Patrick Henry Award by the Libertarian Party in 2016 for the campaign he waged a year earlier against Bell, in which Hammer raised the profile of libertarian issues.

If you are tired of business as usual and the duopoly of the Republicans and Democrats, Hammer said, join me and lets seriously drain the swamp known as Richmond.

See original here:

Anti-pipeline, pro-marijuana Libertarian announces bid for House seat - The Daily Progress