The Keystone Party of Pennsylvania is a third party in Pennsylvania founded in 2022 following the takeover of the Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania by the Mises Caucus.
History
Establishment
The party was founded by members of the Libertarian Party of Pennsylvania who felt the Libertarian Party was "veering too hard to the right". The party's first and current chairman is former Chairman of the York County branch of the Libertarian Party, Gus Tatlas. The Keystone Party was founded in April 2022 with the stated goal of bridging the gap between the two main parties in the state and to better represent issues relevant to Pennsylvanians. Instead of building their party on divisive rhetoric, Keystone Party leaders purport to seek to build an inclusive dialogue of political issues Pennsylvanians can agree on like governmental reform, fair elections, social and criminal justice reform, individual rights and taxation.
2022 election in Pennsylvania
The party's candidates received ballot access on August 1 for the 2022 Pennsylvania elections by receiving more than 5,000 signatures of registered voters.
Their candidate for the 2022 United States Senate election in Pennsylvania was Dan Wassmer. Wassmer is a lawyer originally from Nassau County, New York, but now lives in Pike County. A former Libertarian, he was the Libertarian candidate for Attorney General in 2020. He received 25,808 votes or 0.5% of the electorate placing him in last place among options on the ballot.
Their candidates for the 2022 Pennsylvania gubernatorial election where Joseph P. Soloski for Governor and Nicole Shultz for Lieutenant Governor. Soloski is an accountant from Centre County and former Libertarian. He ran for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, District 81 in 2016 and in the 2020 Pennsylvania State Treasurer election both as a Libertarian. He initially sought the nomination from the Libertarian party, but withdrew and joined the Keystone party. Shultz is another former Libertarian. She originally ran as a candidate for the Libertarian nominee for Lt. Governor, withdrew, and announced her candidacy for the Libertarian nominee for governor. Upon losing that election she joined the Keystone party and successfully sought their bid for Lt. Governor. She is an auditor from Windsor Township, York County, Pennsylvania and had been the Pennsylvania Libertarian Party's treasurer from 2021 to 2022. Soloski and Shultz's ticket got 20,036 votes or 0.4% of the electorate. Like Wassmer, this put them in last place for candidates on the ballot.
The party also stood two candidates for the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in district 93 and district 104 respectively. In district 93 Keystone candidate Kristine Cousler-Womack received 887 votes, or 3% of the electorate falling behind both the incumbent Mike Jones and his Democrat challenger Chris Rodkey. In district 104, Keystone candidate David Kocur received the best showing of the party in terms of percentage. He received 4,838 votes or 29.5% of the electorate, falling behind Democrat candidate Dave Madsen.
Post 2022 election
MarchOnHarrisburg
Party founder and leader Gus Tatlas voiced his support for the bi-partisan MarchOnHarrisburg movement, led by Rabbi Michael Pollack, on November 27, 2022. The movement seeks to implement legislation that would result in a "gift ban" to outlaw the ability for members of the Pennsylvania General Assembly to receive "gifts" in exchange for voting a certain way on bills.