Libertarian Party Has a New National Chair After Angela McArdle Resigns Amid Embezzlement Allegations

The Libertarian National Committee (LNC) now has a new leader after Angela McCardle, the previous Chair, resigned after suspicions were raised about financial misconduct.

Steven Nekhaila, who previously served as chair of the Florida Libertarian Party, was elected to head the LNC after McArdle’s resignation.

McArdle announced her resignation in an email sent to Libertarian Party members on January 25. “I am taking on a new opportunity soon that will make it impossible for me to stay on as Chair, so I am resigning,” she wrote. “I’m very grateful that I was able to help facilitate Ross’s full pardon and release from prison before I left.”

The former chair published a video last week in which she endorsed Michael Heise, founder of the Libertarian Party Mises Caucus, to become the next leader of the national party.

While speaking at the Libertarian National Convention in May 2024, President Donald Trump promised the audience that he would free Silk Road founder Ross Ulbricht while appointing a Libertarian to his cabinet. While he did not fulfill the second promise, he did pardon Ulbricht on his second day in office. McArdle referred to this as the “biggest political victory” the party has ever won in its history.

The former chair said she would be joining the Trump administration’s Health and Human Service Department (HHS) under Robert F. Kennedy if he is confirmed.

McArdle also lashed out at some of her critics, accusing them of being federal operatives seeking to harm the party.

McArdle’s decision to align with Trump instead of making a concerted effort to push the Libertarian candidate was met with praise and condemnation. Those supporting the move argued that it would make the party more relevant. They contend that inviting Trump to speak at the convention would help to defeat the left while boosting the party’s profile. Conversely, others expressed concerns about the party selling out its principles for a political opponent.

However, the former chair has come under recent scrutiny for allegedly funneling party funds to her domestic partner, Austin Padgett. A report published on January 21 by Jake Porter, a former gubernatorial candidate in Iowa, detailed how Padgett formed a hidden LLC in Delaware named Freedom Calls. This occurred after his individual contract with the LNC ended in January 2024.

The LNC started paying Freedom Calls LLC $4,000 per month from February to November 2024, according to Porter. The total payments amounted to about $45,600. There have been complaints among members of the party that McArdle was paying Padgett without disclosing the payments. The suspicions intensified after Porter’s report showed that the payments allegedly continued to Padgett through his LLC.

The party’s policy manual explicitly requires that “any proposed contracts or agreements for financial renumeration (sic) with a closely related party…shall be disclosed to the LNC prior to execution and shall be approved by a 2/3 vote of the Executive Committee or a majority vote of the LNC.”

A website for Freedom Calls LLC had been launched, but lacked typical business identifiers such as an address, phone number, or listed owners. The site identified the organization as “a radical group of individuals who’ve come together to change the system” by providing “nationwide phone banking, and seasonal canvassing in select areas.” Porter was “unable to find any payments from any other federal candidates or committees other than the Libertarian National Committee.”

Padgett was paid a total of $78,065.38 from the LNC since August 2023.

During an email exchange with Reason, McArdle answered a question about the allegations, saying, “the LNC is reacting as best they can in the face of constant attacks by unstable litigants like [Libertarian Party Secretary] Caryn Ann Harlos, and my cyber stalkers [former Libertarian Party Treasurer] Todd Hagopian and Jake Porter.”

She concluded: “We know the feds have a strong interest in disrupting the Libertarian movement, especially at a moment like now when we have freed Ross Ulbricht - the biggest political victory the LP has ever achieved.”

Harlos filed a lawsuit seeking the removal of the former chair. Hagopian filed an amicus brief backing the legal action.

During an exchange with users on X, Padgett claimed the allegations were a form of “lawfare” and that “Feds and saboteurs who are actively trying to destroy the party are angry a legitimate service was performed at a discount.”

That’s fake news and lawfare
— Austin Padgett (LudwigNeverMises) (@LudwigNverMises) February 6, 2025

Feds and saboteurs who are actively trying to destroy the party are angry a legitimate service was performed at a discount
— Austin Padgett (LudwigNeverMises) (@LudwigNverMises) February 6, 2025

The Libertarian Party has experienced an 18 percent drop in donations between April 2022 and December 2024, according to Reason.