Des Moines

Libertarian candidate for governor and Lone Tree resident Nicholas Gluba has a new running mate as he continues his effort to return to the November ballot.

The Libertarian Party of Iowa recently nominated Charles Aldrich as its candidate for lieutenant governor. 

Aldrich received nine votes from the party’s State Central Committee, with one member absent.

Aldrich, of Clarion, has plenty of experience running for office. He previously ran for Iowa’s 4th Congressional District in 2018 and 2024, U.S. Senate in 2016 and Iowa House District 56 in 2022.

A longtime member and prominent figure in the Libertarian Party, Aldrich is also a local business owner and operates Aldrich Engineering, LLC, based in Clarion. Through the business, Aldrich created the decimal-inch tape measure, which divides each inch into 10 or 100 equal parts instead of using traditional fractions.  

Aldrich replaced Gluba’s previous running mate, Jules Cutler, who withdrew from the race after she and Gluba were removed from the November ballot and a district court upheld that decision.

The Libertarian Party’s State Central Committee met on August 12 and nominated Aldrich to replace Cutler on Gluba’s ticket.

Back in June, the State Objection Panel voted to remove Gluba and Cutler from the November ballot after determining that Cutler had failed to submit the required affidavit of candidacy by the filing deadline.

Gluba and Cutler challenged the decision in Polk County District Court, but Judge Joseph Seidlin upheld the panel’s ruling in late July.

Following the ruling, Gluba said he planned to appeal the decision. However, Gluba and the Libertarian Party ultimately decided against moving forward with an appeal and instead pursued a different route by replacing Cutler on the ticket.

Gluba currently remains off the ballot, but the Libertarian Party hopes the nomination of a new lieutenant governor candidate will allow him to return to the ballot.

The question of whether Gluba can appear on the ballot with a replacement running mate was not decided in the original court case. Seidlin wrote that the process of filling a candidate vacancy, if applicable, would be separate from the objection proceedings.

They have since filed a petition for a writ of mandamus, asking Iowa Secretary of State Paul Pate to accept the new candidate nomination papers.

With the November 3 election approaching, a final determination on whether the Gluba-Aldrich ticket will appear on the ballot has yet to be made.

If Gluba and Aldrich are added to the ballot, they would face Democratic gubernatorial nominee Rob Sand and his running mate Dave Muhlbauer, along with Republican gubernatorial nominee Zach Lahn and his running mate Derek Wulf.