'Cannot go unpunished': Backlash after state Libertarian Party 'calls for murder' of Dems

Democrats and libertarians alike condemned the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire after it said it supports the assassination of "basically every elected Democrat" in the state.

The party posted the message on X Tuesday. The post, which the account later edited, remained online Wednesday with more than 317,000 views. Rep. Maggie Goodlander (D-NH) responded Tuesday night by calling on the state attorney general and federal law enforcement to investigate.

"We openly support the assassination of basically every elected Democrat in New Hampshire. But if you don't have the balls to do that then you should probably vote GOP," the party wrote.

"I condemn, with every fiber of my being, the threats of and calls for murder from the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire," Goodlander wrote.

"If you want to light Democrats on fire, please do," the party's account wrote in another post, answering a user who had asked, "When's the time to burn it to the ground?" The exchange appears in screenshots Goodlander shared.

"Calling for the killing of fellow Americans because you disagree is not liberty. It is absolutely anti-American," Goodlander argued. "You can disagree with someone as deeply as humanly possible. But in the United States of America you cannot call for their killing and go unpunished."

"I am calling on the New Hampshire Attorney General … and federal law enforcement to fully investigate these threats and hold anyone who broke the law accountable," Goodlander added.

State House Minority Leader Alexis Simpson (D-NH) also reported the post to the attorney general's office and the Legislature's director of security, InDepthNH reported, citing a Facebook post.

The outlet reported that party chair Jeremy Kauffman wrote the post.

The attorney general's office was contacted after Kauffman previously threatened the life of former Executive Councilor Andru Volinsky, but no state action was taken, according to InDepthNH.

"Anyone who murders Kamala Harris would be an American hero," the party's account posted in September 2024, when Harris was vice president, New Hampshire Public Radio reported.

The Libertarian National Committee, the national party's governing body, voted 15-2 in May to cut ties with the New Hampshire party, citing its "numerous anti-libertarian positions" and its 2024 endorsement of President Donald Trump, according to the Boston Globe.

"When these psychos took over the state party, they had a simple goal: destroy libertarianism. Racism didn't work so they've escalated," David Bier, director of immigration studies at the libertarian Cato Institute, wrote on X.

"They are sociopathic malcontents leeching on to a movement for the ego of their political cult leader," Caryn Ann Harlos, a former secretary of the Libertarian National Committee, wrote in reply to Goodlander.