Criminal Charge Against Libertarian LG Nominee Adds To Party Turmoil

(Source: MIRS.news, Published 09/11/2026) The Libertarian Party of Michigan's nominee for lieutenant governor was arraigned Thursday on a felony larceny charge, adding another complication to an election cycle in which one longtime party official says Michigan Libertarians have struggled with shrinking participation, ideological extremes and candidates who don't reflect traditional libertarian principles.

Beau Parmenter, running mate to gubernatorial nominee Anthony Hudson, pleaded not guilty Sept. 10 in Shiawassee County's 66th District Court to one count of larceny by conversion involving between $1,000 and $20,000, according to the Argus Press. He's accused of taking a $2,500 deposit in a disputed transaction involving Country Barn Estates, an event venue he owns.

Parmenter's attorney, Daniel Barnett, denies Parmenter did anything wrong, saying his client had no involvement in the transaction and calling the charge “malicious and frivolous.” Parmenter posted a $10,000 cash bond and is scheduled for a probable cause conference Sept. 23 and preliminary examination Sept. 29.

Parmenter remains listed by the Michigan Department of State as Hudson's Libertarian running mate for the Nov. 3 general election.

For Libertarian Party Genesee County Chair Dave Canny, the charge comes amid what he describes as a broader deterioration of a party that has struggled to maintain participation while attracting candidates from ideological fringes.

“If you look at our convention, we had the fewest people in attendance of a nomination convention at any convention ever,” Canny said.

Canny said the party's membership began thinning after the Tea Party movement pulled libertarian-leaning voters into the Republican Party more than a decade ago. Some disillusioned Republicans eventually returned, he said, but the party has since been pulled in competing ideological directions.

Canny's description of a shrinking party is reflected in its candidate numbers. The Libertarian Party has nominated 29 candidates in Michigan this year, according to a MIRS review, the fewest in any gubernatorial election year going back to at least 1998.

That's down from 72 Libertarian candidates in 2010, the party's high point over that span. It fielded 44 candidates in 2018 and 35 in 2022.

The decline isn't mirrored across all third parties. Michigan has 104 third-party and independent candidates overall this year, matching the totals from 1998 and 2002 and exceeding the 78 candidates who ran in 2022.

Canny said low turnout at this year's nominating convention allowed relatively small groups of supporters to have an outsized influence on who received nominations.

Among those showing up, Canny said, were people he considers far outside the party's traditional emphasis on limited government and individual liberty. He pointed to candidates and activists including Jayden Scott, Dave Franklin, William Null and congressional candidate Kevin Vayko, who is facing separate criminal charges for allegedly groping women.

Still, Canny said he doesn't believe those factions have seized control of the broader membership.

“I don't see any real support for this kind of anarchistic way of thinking, other than a little bit of rhetoric here or there,” he said. “I really don't see it as far as being anything that's a movement or picking up steam.”

His criticism extends to the top of the ticket.

Hudson entered the year running for governor as a Republican before announcing in February that he was leaving the GOP and joining the Libertarian Party. He ultimately won the Libertarian gubernatorial nomination with Parmenter as his running mate.

Canny said Hudson won because he brought enough supporters to a lightly attended convention to become delegates.

“It did not take many Hudson supporters joining the party to get him the nomination,” Canny said. “But then I heard Beau Parmenter make a speech and that couldn't have been less libertarian.”

Canny pointed to a Hudson Facebook Live broadcast in which the gubernatorial candidate used a homophobic slur while discussing constitutional rights and argued that Dearborn Mayor Abdullah Hammoud should leave Michigan and “go back to Iran or wherever his family came from.”

Hudson also used the video to reject suggestions that he should leave the race.

“Don't ask me to drop out of this race, because that will never happen,” Hudson said. “I have never quit anything in my life, and I'm not going to start now.”

Hudson portrayed criticism of his nomination as coming from disgruntled party members while arguing he has brought new attention to the Libertarians.

“Some of these dumb carpetbaggers go around and say, ‘Oh, the Libertarian Party lost credibility when they elected you.’ No, they grew when they nominated me,” Hudson said. “They got new members. The party has grown. We're getting statewide recognition.”

“Anthony Hudson's campaign has been horrible,” Canny countered.

The dispute comes as Libertarians also wrestle with their relationship with Republicans.

Canny said Republican activists have appeared at Libertarian events using libertarian themes and talking points while encouraging party members to support Republican candidates. He said Libertarians were specifically urged not to nominate a U.S. Senate candidate because one could take votes from Republican nominee Mike Rogers in a close race against Democrat Abdul El-Sayed.

An account of the June Libertarian convention published by Third Party Watch similarly reported that a Republican speaker urged delegates not to field candidates in races where doing so could hurt Republicans and that an effort was made to discourage a Libertarian U.S. Senate nomination.

Canny rejected the idea.

“I can't think of anybody in the Republican Party that I find more abhorrent than Mike Rogers, as far as a surveillance state and individual freedoms,” he said.

Canny said Libertarians were told that if they did not field a Senate candidate, Rogers would “be indebted” to the party and work with Libertarians after the election.

Michigan Libertarians ultimately did nominate Lydia Lynn Christensen for U.S. Senate, according to the state's candidate list.

Canny traces some of the Republican-Libertarian crossover to the influence of the party's Mises Caucus, a faction associated with former U.S. Rep. Ron Paul and named for Austrian economist Ludwig Von Mises.

“You've got the Republican Party still out there in rhetoric promoting libertarian ideals, libertarian messaging, looking like they have Libertarian Party support, and it's going unopposed,” Canny said.