Garrett Leeds
| Garrett Leeds | |
 | |
| Candidate Oregon State House of Representatives | |
| 2016—2016 | |
| Personal Details | |
| Education: | Chemeketa Community College Portland State University |
| Residence: | Oregon |
| Party: | Libertarian Party |
| view image gallery | |
Garrett Leeds is a Libertarian Party activist.
Personal Life, Career, and Education
Garrett has lived in Salem, Oregon most of his life. After graduating from South Salem High School in 1998, he began working at Ron Wilson Center for Effective Living, a company that provides residential, supported living, and day supported activities for adults with intellectual/developmental disabilities. After working there about 9 months as a direct care staff, he left to serve a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He served in the Ohio Cincinnati Mission, spending time in Lawrenceberg, Indiana; Cincinnati, Ohio; Hamilton, Ohio; and several areas in Eastern Kentucky. After returning home, Garrett returned to work at Ron Wilson Center. He worked as a support staff doing direct care again from August 2001 until March 2008. In April 2008 he accepted a promotion to become the Office Specialist. Since then, he has worked his way up through the Human Resources Department and currently works as the Safety Manager. Garrett received an Associates of Arts Oregon Transfer (AAOT) degree from Chemeketa Community College, and then went on to receive a Bachelor of Science degree in Social Sciences and a certificate in Rural Social Services from Portland State University.
Political History and Views
Garrett first discovered his passion for politics during the 1992 Election cycle when his middle school made everyone watch Channel One television news on a daily basis. At first Bill Clinton's proposals to take care of people sounded nice, but then his mother wanted him to hear both sides and introduced him to talk radio. Over the years, the harsh tone and inconsistency of principles turned him away from most talk radio hosts. In about 2008 Garrett began opening his mind to libertarian ideas, and first joined the national Libertarian Party in May 2013, but it wasn't until the election of 2014 that he decided to change his registration and join the Libertarian Party. The final straw was the Republican establishment taking sides in a primary election and asking Democrats to come vote in the open primary for the establishment GOP candidate to defeat the more liberty minded insurgent candidate.
2016 Elections
2016 Oregon State House of Representatives Campaign
In 2016 Garrett was the Libertarian Party of Oregon's candidate for the Oregon House of Representatives for District 23. While he hadn't intended on running, he didn't want a spot on the ballot to go unfilled by a Libertarian Candidate. Originally, he intended to run a paper campaign, but his conscience wouldn't let him. As part of his campaign, he made the following appearances:
- 9/14/2016 City Hall Week- Keizer, Oregon
- 9/21/2016 Capital Community Television (CCTV) Video Voter’s Guide
- 10/12/2016 Mid-Valley Health Care Advocates Candidate Forum
- 10/24/2016 League of Women’s Voters State Representatives Candidates Forum
- 10/27/2016 Appeared on KYKN 1430 am Gator and Denise
On Election day, Garrett received 1395 votes, about 4% of the vote.
2018 Elections
Garrett eagerly supports Larry Sharpe for Governor of New York in the 2018 elections.
Involvement
Libertarian Party of Oregon (LPO)
Garrett is currently participating with the LPO as a part of the Affiliate Committee and the Website Committee
Our America Initiative (OAI)
Currently Garrett is serving as a state board member of Our America Initiative.
Life, Liberty, and Pursuit of Happiness Project (LLPHP)
Garrett is the founder of the Life, Liberty, and Pursuit of Happiness Project, an organization devoted to individual rights and personal independence. The Life, Liberty, and Pursuit of Happiness Project website is https://llphp.org.
Other Appearances
On May 10, 2017 Garrett appeared along with another Andrew Freborg, another 2016 candidate for the Oregon House of Representatives at the Libertarians at Oregon State University (LOSU) Discussion Series, in an evening devoted to discussing Debt, Taxes, and Regulations
References
Self
External Links
- 2016 Video Voter's Guide: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YKevz3Br2A&index=3&list=PLSUQ1gg6M78UBZSi2zZEYyrcEWC_UGA4C
- 2016 Election Results: http://sos.oregon.gov/elections/Documents/results/november-2016-results.pdf
- Life, Liberty, and Pursuit of Happiness Website: https://llphp.org