All, I thought I would present these two items prior to the next meeting: *LiberTEA Fest 2023* Ralyn Sue Speerly Schraceo contacted me last Wednesday regarding the 2023 edition of LiberTEA Fest. She told me that this year's event will be in Moline on August 5, but she didn't specify the exact venue. This year's event will be in partnership with the Illinois Freedom Alliance, of which I know some of our members are active in, with the intent to bolster turnout. She is encouraging any Libertarian candidate to attend, and I'm sure it wouldn't matter whether it was for countywide, county board/commission, General Assembly, or Congressional. She can be contacted by calling (217) 492-1163. She has been asking for Libertarian participants/candidates to attend since 2018. I think 2024 could present our biggest opportunity, especially in the counties that are either heavily Democrat or heavily Republican with rarely contested political races at any level. *Coalition building for the 2024 election cycle* Some people might not like what I'm planning to do, but we've been lacking in coalition building with other third parties. We definitely need to take advantage of the local major party status in the eight counties that we have the status in. We also need to bombard the other 94 counties whenever possible. I've had some conversations with Mitch Davilo, immediate past Chair/Captain of the Illinois Pirate Party and the current Chair/Captain of the Chicagoland Pirate Party. He is amenable to a coalition to run candidates alongside us on the Libertarian ballot line, and he has a line with the chair of the Transhumanist Party of Illinois. I know we have a lot in common with both of these parties, and they also are aware of the difficult struggles involved with ballot access for any level of political office above municipal office. I think we could mutually benefit from this coalition, and we'd have more candidates in the pool to actively run for office. Our biggest target is Cook County, and there's a lot of political offices -- especially General Assembly and Congressional -- that are ripe for the taking. If we can run coalition candidates as Libertarians in the districts where we don't have candidates, it's a win-win for us, and in part, them as well. I think this could be a serious play that could add several more established counties in 2024. I'm sure that everyone would appreciate if we could establish all of the collar counties surrounding each of our eight established counties. I had considered involving the Forward Party in this coalition, but I have not attempted to reach out to them. -- *Jake Leonard* *Interim Chairman and Executive Director | ChrisMont Libertarian Central Committee* (/Christian County, Montgomery County/) /*Congress*: 15/ | /*Montgomery County*: Illinois Senate 54/55, Illinois House 107/108/110/ | /*Christian County*: Illinois Senate 48/54, Illinois House 95/96/107/108/ *Political Director | Libertarian Party of Illinois* 800 Capps Ave. | Nokomis, IL 62075-1415 *Mobile*: (217) 565-9709 <tel:2175659709> | (217) 565-9273 <tel:2175659273> || *Work*: (217) 569-4230 ext. 700 <tel:2175694230,700> | (217) 718-5281 <tel:2177185281> || *Fax*: (217) 717-8079 <tel:2177178079> -- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. www.avast.com