link to original reddit post by /u/PerformanceKey40
Anthony Sabatini is a Republican state representative from Florida who has announced he is running for Congress. With redistricting he'll presumably be running for an open seat. Anthony Sabatini was elected in as a state representative in 2018 and was endorsed by the libertarian youth organization Young Americans for Liberty (previously Students for Ron Paul). He had a solidly ranked voting record in the state house from the liberty-friendly scorecards (95% Club for Growth, 98% American Conservative Union) and has been endorsed in the past by the Republican Liberty Caucus. He even has had an appearance on the Tom Woods show
Sabatini seems to be a Ron Paul style libertarian, publicly taking several libertarian stances and taking libertarian votes. Some examples below:
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Is actually solid on the issues most Republicans posture and pretend to be good on. 100% on deregulation, economic freedom, and gun rights. Stood up for economic freedom even when his party wouldn't on several votes. Introduced Constitutional Carry legislation.
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He's outspokenly anti-war. Introduced "Defend the Guard" legislation to nullify our illegal wars abroad.
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Attacked Liz Cheney for being a warmonger long before the rank and file GOP even considered ousting her
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Outspoken opponent of the lockdowns
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Supports legalizing marijuana and has criticized the drug war. Also voted against GOP bill to crack down on nicotine products
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Opposes government surveillance. Has criticized the Patriot Act and introduced legislation to ban red-light cameras
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Has co-sponsored criminal justice reform bills to roll back mandatory minimums.
That said, he does have some downsides in my opinion:
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Has a handful of issues where he differs from the traditional libertarian takes. Most notably he favors government restrictions on immigration, he's an outspoken supporter of "The Wall".
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While his Twitter account often has very hardcore libertarian takes, scattered between those takes are pretty generic conservative red meat Tweets (for example, called to rename a Florida highway after Donald Trump). Granted he has to pander to an extent to stay elected in his red district, but some of his Tweets make me cringe sometimes.
As a whole, I think his voting record shows that Sabatini is indeed a libertarian, or at least extremely friendly to the ideas of liberty. If elected he'd be one of the few politicians in Washington DC who doesn't support increasing the size of government (along with Thomas Massie and Rand Paul on his good days). I hope that if he does get elected that he focuses more on drawing attention to libertarian ideas rather than red meat conservative ideas, but we'll have to see.
Don't get me wrong, I don't think that libertarians will ever take over Congress, the Thomas Massies of the world will never dominate politically imo. But Ron Paul proved that having even one Congressman who supports libertarianism can make a big impact. If Anthony Sabatini is going to use his seat in Congress to educate people on libertarian ideas and convert right wingers to libertarianism, then I say good for him.
For those who want to help Anthony Sabatini get elected you can donate at the link below. There's also a volunteer form on his campaign website, you don't have to live in Florida to make phone calls.