Jonathan Lane stands outside the Elks Lodge in downtown Franklin on Tuesday.

Jonathan Lane stands outside the Elks Lodge in downtown Franklin on Tuesday, September 13, 2022. GEOFF FORESTER—Monitor staff

James Austin stands outside of City Hall in Franklin wearing a rain poncho, handing out flyers in support of Jason Gerhard, a candidate for state house representative in Merrimack County. GEOFF FORESTER photos / Monitor staff

When James Austin attended the Young Americans for Liberty Revolution two-day conference in Orlando, Florida this summer, he didn’t know much about New Hampshire politics.

He liked that Rand Paul was a speaker. The conference was also close to his hometown of Tampa Bay.

At the conference, Austin heard of an opportunity to help elect candidates across the nation.

A month later, Austin was standing outside of City Hall in Franklin, New Hampshire, wearing a rain poncho, handing out flyers in support of Jason Gerhard, a Republican candidate for State Representative in District 25 in Merrimack County.

Gerhard is one of many candidates endorsed by Make Liberty Win, a conservative political action committee dedicated to “electing 250 liberty-defending state legislators.”

Outside Franklin’s second polling place, the Elks Club, Jonathan Lane was also campaigning for Gerhard, handing out flyers from the organization.

Both Lane and Austin can’t vote for the candidate they campaigned for, as they are out-of-state residents. Yet, they were among a group of 50 or so activists, according to Austin, deployed to the Granite State to help elect conservative candidates at the state legislature.

“Make Liberty Win specializes in mobilizing voters to engage in primary and general elections through direct voter contact,” the group said on its website. “Door knocking, phone calls, and texting are the best way to establish an authentic connection in today’s political environment. Our activists cut through the noise of the ‘he said, she said.’”

After the primary, up to 100 people will campaign in the state, Austin said.

They support candidates like Gerhard, who support lower taxes, small government and pro-life policies while defending the U.S. Constitution, according to Lane.

This isn’t Lane’s first campaign this election cycle either. This year he’s traveled to Indiana, South Carolina and Missouri.

He’s been in New Hampshire canvassing for more than two weeks before the election, he said.

Across the nation, a handful of Make Liberty Win endorsed candidates have won in each state. In Arizona, 12 candidates were elected to state representative roles. In Wyoming, which held its primary in mid-August, eight candidates were successful.

In New Hampshire – which has 400 representatives making it the second largest legislature in the country behind the U.S. Congress – Make Liberty Win has endorsed 66 candidates for House seats, three for state Senate, and Tim Baxter, in the first congressional district race against U.S. Rep. Chris Pappas.

Candidates like Gerhard stand for “liberty politics,” which means no new taxes and no infringement of 2nd Amendment rights, said Lane.

In the 2022 election cycle, Make Liberty Win has spent $5 million in support of state legislative candidates across the nation.

With his involvement in campaigns across various states, Lane has seen all corners of conservative politics, he said.

“When people say politics is local, it is completely true,” he said. “A Republican candidate in California is different from a Republican candidate in Missouri.”

Michaela Towfighi is a Report for America corps member covering the Two New Hampshires for the Monitor. She graduated from Duke University with a degree in public policy and journalism and media studies in 2022. At Duke she covered education, COVID-19, the 2020 election and helped edit stories about the Durham County Courthouse for The 9th Street Journal and the triangle area's alt-weekly Indy Week. Her story about a family grappling with a delayed trial for a fatal car accident in Concord won first place in Duke’s Melcher Family Award for Excellence in Journalism. Towfighi is an American expat who calls London, England, home despite being born in Boston.

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