COLUMBUS, OH – A faction of Ohio Libertarians is attempting to boot a Cleveland-area man from their May U.S. Senate primary ballot, claiming his campaign is a covert Republican operation designed to protect incumbent GOP Senator Jon Husted. If undeterred he will face Ballot Access News editor Bill Redpath in the primaries.

On Friday, former Libertarian Statehouse candidate Kristen Wichers filed a formal protest with the Ohio Secretary of State’s Office against Jeffrey Kanter. Wichers alleges that Kanter is a Republican saboteur whose goal is to defeat the Libertarian Party’s preferred candidate, Bill Redpath, in the primary and subsequently abandon the race.

This maneuver, Wichers argues, would prevent a legitimate Libertarian from acting as a spoiler in the highly competitive general election matchup between Sen. Husted and Democratic challenger Sherrod Brown.To remove Kanter from the ballot, the challenge must successfully invalidate at least 823 of his submitted signatures, bringing him below the 500-signature legal threshold. Wichers’ complaint contests 993 of Kanter’s 1,323 total signatures on several grounds.

The protest alleges that 85 signatures were collected by an individual with a recent election fraud conviction. Furthermore, it claims that dozens of signatures were gathered by circulators not formally affiliated with the Libertarian Party, a violation of Ohio election law.

The complaint also highlights multiple duplicate signatures and instances where signers simply wrote a single letter.

Secretary of State Frank LaRose, who provisionally certified Kanter’s candidacy last week, is required by state law to schedule a hearing to evaluate the claims.

Kanter, a 71-year-old health care consultant from Shaker Heights, has ties to Republican circles. While he has previously interacted with the local Libertarian Party, state records show he most recently voted in the March 2024 Republican primary. In 2025, he also served in a leadership role for a coalition supporting Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination to Donald Trump’s cabinet, working alongside a prominent state GOP consultant.

The dispute highlights the growing influence of the Libertarian Party in Ohio following its successful 2024 petition to regain official minor party status. This designation lowered the statewide signature requirement from 5,000 to just 500. Consequently, Libertarians are fielding candidates in numerous tight races this cycle, including the gubernatorial race, the Secretary of State contest, and several highly competitive U.S. House districts, where they have historically siphoned votes from conservative candidates.