Meet the 3 Libertarian Party candidates running for Congress in Iowa

The Libertarian Party of Iowa will be fielding a candidate in three of the four Congressional districts in Iowa.

Nicholas Gluba in the 1st Congressional District, Marco Battaglia in the 3rd Congressional District and Charles Aldrich in the 4th Congressional District filed their official candidacy papers Monday at the Iowa State Capitol.

Here’s what inspired each of them to run and what their main policy objective would be. Two of the candidates do not currently have a campaign website, but information on the Libertarian Party platform can be found at lpia.org.

Nicholas Gluba, 1st Congressional District

Gluba is running in Iowa’s 1st District, which covers most of southeastern Iowa, including Iowa City and Davenport. It is represented by Republican U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks.

Gluba decided to run after hearing other residents in his district express dissatisfaction with Miller-Meeks’ attention to their issues. He said he and other constituents felts ignored.

“As a politician, your employer is the people of your constituency,” he said. “If you ignore your boss, you should go.”

Gluba serves on the city council of Lone Tree, something he believes proves the viability of third-party candidates.

He also served in Operation Iraqi Freedom after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The experience made him staunchly anti-war, something he plans to push for if elected.

“I’m big a on nonaggression,” he said. “We need to stop sending Americans to places we don’t need to be.”

Gluba said by ending foreign interventions, America could save trillions of dollars to reinvest in its economy.

He also would seek to end eminent domain and reduce the power of the executive branch, specifically by banning executive orders and repealing or altering the International Emergency Economic Powers Act that allows the president to regulate or ban international trade to countries deemed a threat.

Gluba’s campaign has a Facebook page titled Nicholas Gluba for Congress.

Marco Battaglia, 3rd Congressional District

Battaglia is running in Iowa’s 3rd District which covers much of southern and central Iowa, including most of the Des Moines metropolitan area. It is represented by Republican U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn.

Battaglia was inspired to run because of Nunn’s decisions, particularly his failure to speak out on 4th Amendment issues related to governmental data gathering.

“He could have at least said, ‘hey, you need a warrant,’” Battaglia said. “But he has a history of inappropriate data gathering.”

While Battaglia broadly agrees with the Libertarian Party platform, he said he’s “not a party person.” Instead, he feels that the Libertarian Party is simply the closest to his political beliefs.

Battaglia had a short list of priorities, including abolishing the Federal Reserve and opposing eminent domain. Another major plank is ending the drug war and expunging the records of those convicted. He also said he wants to be a voice for peace in Congress.

“If we don’t declare war, we shouldn’t be sanctioning or sending weapons,” he said.

More information on Battaglia’s campaign can be found at marco4congress.com.

Charles Alrdich, 4th Congressional District

Aldrich is running in Iowa’s 4th District, which covers much of western Iowa, including Sioux Falls and Council Bluffs. It is represented by Republican U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra. Aldrich previously ran for the office in 2018, getting around 6,000 votes.

He said a specific policy Feenstra proposed prompted him to run again for office.

“He posted that we should take all the money from people crossing the border from Mexico,” Aldrich said. “I didn’t see a difference between highway bandits and what he wanted the highway patrol to be.”

On July 31, 2023, Feenstra proposed the Build the Wall and Fight Fentanyl Act that would confiscate assets from drug traffickers to build a border wall and fund the fight again fentanyl.

Aldrich broadly agrees with the Libertarian Party platform, except on immigration. Aldrich said it shouldn’t take more than 24 hours to either get a Visa to enter the United States or have the application denied.

However, his main agenda if elected would focus on economic policies.

“My first priority is to repeal the 16th Amendment,” Aldrich said. “States should fund the federal government, not the people.”

The 16th Amendment granted Congress the right to levy income taxes. Aldrich also wants to remove the Federal Reserve from the process of minting new currency.

Ryan Magalhães is a reporter for the Register. Reach them at rmagalhaes@dmreg.com.