Andrew Kolstee

	Andrew Martin Kolstee
	Secretary; Libertarian Party of New York
	September 21, 2024—present
Predecessor:	Mark Braiman
Successor:	Incumbent
	Chair; Libertarian Party of New York
	September 18, 2022—September 21, 2024
Predecessor:	Cody Anderson
Successor:	Duane Whitmer
	Secretary; Libertarian Party of New York
	September 27, 2020—September 18, 2022
Predecessor:	Fred Cole
Successor:	Mark Braiman
	Communications Director; Libertarian Party of New York
	May 7, 2017—July 7, 2019
Predecessor:	Christopher Edes
Successor:	Steve Minogue
	Personal Details
Birth:	May 11, 1991 (age 33)
Education:	A.A. in Social Sciences (2011); Jamestown Community College
Occupation:	Writer, Genealogist, Political activist
Residence:	New York
Party:	Libertarian Party
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Andrew Martin Kolstee (born May 11, 1991) is a Libertarian Party activist. He is the current Secretary of the Libertarian Party of New York, having been elected in 2024. He is also the Secretary (since 2022) and Treasurer (since 2017) of the Chautauqua County Libertarian Party. He is also a member of the Libertarian Party of New York State Committee and served as Communications Director (2017—2019), Secretary (2020—2022), and Chair (2022—2024) as well as in numerous other capacities. He served as Chair of the Chautauqua County Libertarian Party from 2015 to 2022. He became an enrolled Libertarian in 2009 and joined National in 2014 and the Libertarian Party of New York in 2015.

Biography

Kolstee was born on May 11, 1991 in Warren, Pennsylvania. He graduated from Jamestown High School in 2009 and went on to attend Jamestown Community College, majoring in history. He graduated from there in 2011 with an Associate's in Arts - Social Sciences. He went on to attend SUNY Fredonia, continuing as a history major, but dropped out in 2013. He attended Jamestown Community College again in 2017 and majored in political science.

Kolstee has an interest in history and genealogy. He served on the Board of Trustees at his local history center, the Fenton History Center from 2015 to 2022, in which also served as Secretary (2017-2021; 2022) before he began work there as Office Manager in 2022. Since 2013, he has been a member of the Chautauqua County Genealogical Society, of which he was elected Trustee in 2018. He has given several presentations on genealogical research and also runs his own freelance genealogical research business, The Family Historian. He was also active in his church until 2019, and volunteered in the church's media department from 2014 to 2019 and with the youth group from 2009 to 2019. He also operates a digital marketing business, Kolstee Media, since 2015.

Interest in Libertarian Party

Kolstee had been somewhat interested in politics in High School, but had not yet looked into the Libertarian Party while following the 2008 Presidential election. He first heard about the Libertarian Party because his maternal grandfather, John Widegren, was an enrolled member of the party. Kolstee registered to vote in 2009 as a member of the Libertarian Party. 2010 would be the first election in which he voted, in which New York was holding its gubernatorial election. When researching for that election, he learned more about the Libertarian Party when he followed the Libertarian Party's candidate, Warren Redlich. After the 2010 election, he didn't pay much attention to politics. In 2012, Kolstee's interest in libertarianism increased when he started to follow the Presidential campaign of Ron Paul. When Paul didn't get the Republican nomination, Kolstee threw his support behind Gary Johnson and from that point forward, he began to learn more about libertarianism. As early as 2013, he thought about getting more involved in the party.

Libertarian Party Involvement

In 2015, Kolstee first got involved in the Libertarian Party of New York when he attended the state convention in Rochester in April 2015. There, he met several party members of the Libertarian Party of New York and learned that they were working to establish local affiliates in unreached counties, such as Kolstee's home county of Chautauqua. The Western New York Libertarian Party was a proposed regional chapter, which turned into a plan to create three separate chapters in western New York.

Kolstee was a delegate to the 2016 national convention. He voted for Austin Petersen for President and Larry Sharpe for Vice President. Following the convention, served as Southwestern New York Area Field Director for the Gary Johnson 2016 Presidential campaign.

In 2017, Kolstee rebuilt the LPNY's website, taking over administration from Christopher Edes. Kolstee led efforts to introduce a Divisional Structure to the Libertarian Party of New York, which was adopted in May 2017. Subsequently, Kolstee was appointed Communications Director and served in that position from 2017 to 2019.

On April 5, 2019, he announced his candidacy for Secretary of the Libertarian Party of New York and his intention to step down as Communications Director on May 31, 2019.^[1] After losing the election 53—33 to Bill Schmidt, Kolstee decided to stay on as Communications Director, but later resigned on July 7, 2019.

In 2019, Kolstee was involved in several local campaigns, as the Chautauqua County Libertarian Party had nominated several candidates. He was campaign manager for Gerrit Cain, who was running for County Legislature. He also helped other campaigns, especially that of Andrew Liuzzo, who was running for Mayor of Jamestown.

In 2020, Kolstee was elected Secretary of the Libertarian Party of New York and was a delegate to the 2020 National Convention. He supported Jim Gray/Larry Sharpe for President, but after they lost the nomination, he voted for Vermin Supreme in protest. In 2022, Kolstee was elected Chair of the Libertarian Party of New York.

Campaigns

2016 Gary Johnson / Bill Weld Presidential Campaign

Kolstee served as Southwestern New York Area Field Director the campaign.

2018 Larry Sharpe Gubernatorial Campaign

Kolstee served as Deputy Field Director for Western New York from January 31, 2018 to September 2018. He coordinate volunteers, sent correspondence, and organized logistics for petitioning during July and August. He served as Chautauqua County Coordinator throughout the duration of the campaign.

2019 Gerrit Cain for County Legislator Campaign

Kolstee was Campaign Manager and Treasurer for Gerrit Cain's campaign for Chautauqua County Legislator.

2019 Andrew Liuzzo for Mayor Campaign

Kolstee was a volunteer for the Liuzzo for Mayor campaign in Jamestown, New York.

2020 Andrew Kolstee for Congress Campaign

Kolstee ran for Congress in New York's 23rd congressional district and received over 3,600 votes (1%+).

2021 Andrew Kolstee for County Legislator Campaign

Kolstee filed petitions for Chautauqua County Legislator in District 9, but the petitions were deemed invalid.

2021 Gerrit Cain for County Legislator Campaign

Kolstee was once again Campaign Manager and Treasurer for Gerrit Cain's campaign for Chautauqua County Legislator.

2022 Larry Sharpe Gubernatorial Campaign

Kolstee volunteer for the Sharpe campaign. He collected petitions along Interstate 90 to bring them to Albany for binding and filing and was involved in the filing process.

Party Involvement

Chautauqua County Libertarian Party

Kolstee attended the Libertarian Party of New York State Convention in Rochester in April 2015, where he met several members of the leadership of the state party. The original plan for western New York was to establish a regional chapter of the four western counties (Erie, Niagara, Chautauqua, and Cattaraugus), but it was decided to have each county form separately. On October 3, 2015, the Chautauqua County Chapter had its founding convention, and Kolstee was elected chair, and has served in that position since.

Positions

Chair (October 3, 2015—October 6, 2022)
State Representative (October 3, 2015—May 4, 2019)
Treasurer (July 6, 2017—present)
Secretary (October 6, 2022—present)
Webmaster (2015—present)

Libertarian Party of New York

Kolstee joined the Libertarian Party of New York in April 2015 and became a member of the State Committee as the Representative for Chautauqua County in October 2015. He also serves on several committees. He was appointed Communications Director in 2017. Kolstee was elected Secretary on November 10, 2018 to fill the vacancy created by the resignation of Bill Schmidt, a term to last until the dissolution of the Free Libertarian Party, Inc.

Positions

Secretary (September 21, 2024—present)
Twitter Administrator (December 2017—present)
Facebook Administrator (2020—present)

Committee Assignments

Communications Committee

Member (October 4, 2015—December 4, 2016)
Chair (December 4, 2016—July 7, 2019)
Secretary (2023—present)

Field Development Committee

Member (2016—May 7, 2017) (as Chapter Development Committee)
Secretary (2020—2022) (as Local Affiliate Development Committee)
Chair (2022—September 21, 2024)

Fundraising Committee

Member (2020—present)

IT Committee

Member (December 4, 2016—August 1, 2019)
Chair (March 2020—2022)
Member (2022—present)

Platform Committee

Member (?—August 1, 2019)
Member (2021?)
Secretary (2023—present)

Rules Committee

Member (December 2, 2018—June 2, 2019)
Secretary (2020—present)
Chair (2022—present)

Volunteer Committee

Chair (February 20, 2018—February 10, 2019)

Former Positions

Communications Director (May 7, 2017—July 7, 2019)
Webmaster (April 2017—July 2019)
Facebook Administrator (2017—July 2019)
Secretary (September 27, 2020—September 18, 2022)
Chair (September 18, 2022—September 21, 2024)
Field Development Director (2022—September 21, 2024)

Former Committee Assignments

Chair, Organizational Structure Committee (December 4, 2016—May 7, 2017)
Member, Model Bylaws Committee (December 4, 2016—early 2017)
Chair, Strategic Planning Subcommittee (February 5, 2017—September 8, 2019)
Co-Chair, Historical Subcommittee (June 4, 2017—September 8, 2019)
Member, Finance Committee (October 1, 2017—August 1, 2019)
Chair, Committee on Standing Rules for 2018 Convention (April 8, 2018—April 21, 2018)
Chair, Resolutions Committee for 2018 Convention (April 8, 2018—April 21, 2018)

Member, Administrative Committee (?—August 1, 2019)
Member, Conventions Committee (2018—2019)

Free Libertarian Party, Inc.

The Free Libertarian Party, Inc. has never been formally dissolved and Kolstee still holds positions in that organization.

Secretary, Free Libertarian Party, Inc. (November 10, 2019—present)
State Representative from Chautauqua County (October 3, 2015—present)

References

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External links

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