Bill Redpath

Bill Redpath (Libertarian Party) ran for election to the U.S. Senate to represent Illinois. He lost in the general election on November 8, 2022.

Redpath completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. Click here to read the survey answers.

Redpath was a 2014 Libertarian candidate who sought election to the U.S. House to represent the 10th Congressional District of Virginia.^[1] He lost in the general election on November 4, 2014.

Biography

Bill Redpath was born in Findlay, Ohio. He earned a bachelor's degree from Indiana University Bloomington in 1978. He earned a master's degree from the University of Chicago Booth School of Business in 1980. Redpath's career experience includes working as a managing director with Summit Ridge Group in Chicago, Illinois, as a vice president with BIA Advisory Services in Washington, D.C. from 1985 to 2020, as a senior financial analyst with the National Broadcasting Company in New York, New York from 1984 to 1985, as an internal auditor with American Broadcasting Companies, Inc. in New York, New York from 1983 to 1984, as an assistant financial manager with WISH-TV in Indianapolis, Indiana from 1982 to 1983, and as an auditor with Arthur Andersen in Cincinnati, Ohio from 1980 to 1982. He has been affiliated with the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, the CFA Institute, the American Society of Appraisers, and with the Libertarian Party.^[2]

Elections

2022

General election

General election for U.S. Senate Illinois

Incumbent Tammy Duckworth defeated Kathy Salvi, Bill Redpath, Lowell Seida, and Connor VlaKancic in the general election for U.S. Senate Illinois on November 8, 2022.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Tammy Duckworth (D)	56.8	2,329,136
	Kathy Salvi (R)	41.5	1,701,055
	Bill Redpath (L)	1.7	68,671
	Lowell Seida (Independent) (Write-in)	0.0	23
	Connor VlaKancic (Independent) (Write-in)	0.0	11

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 4,098,896
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

W. Thomas La Fontaine Olson (Independent)

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Illinois

Incumbent Tammy Duckworth advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Illinois on June 28, 2022.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Tammy Duckworth	100.0	856,720

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 856,720
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. Senate Illinois

The following candidates ran in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate Illinois on June 28, 2022.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Kathy Salvi	30.2	216,007
	Peggy Hubbard	24.8	177,180
	Matthew Dubiel	12.7	90,538
	Casey Chlebek	10.7	76,213
	Bobby Piton	9.2	65,461
	Anthony Williams	7.4	52,890
	Jimmy Lee Tillman II	5.1	36,342

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 714,631
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

2020

Illinois' 6th Congressional District election, 2020 (March 17 Republican primary)

Illinois' 6th Congressional District election, 2020 (March 17 Democratic primary)

General election

General election for U.S. House Illinois District 6

Incumbent Sean Casten defeated Jeanne M. Ives and Bill Redpath in the general election for U.S. House Illinois District 6 on November 3, 2020.

	Candidate	%	Votes
✔	Sean Casten (D)	52.8	213,777
	Jeanne M. Ives (R)	45.4	183,891
	Bill Redpath (L)	1.7	7,079

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 404,747
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Watch the Candidate Conversation for this race!

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Illinois District 6

Incumbent Sean Casten advanced from the Democratic primary for U.S. House Illinois District 6 on March 17, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Sean Casten	100.0	82,909

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 82,909
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Robert Marshall (D)

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Illinois District 6

Jeanne M. Ives defeated Gordon Kinzler and Richard Mayers in the Republican primary for U.S. House Illinois District 6 on March 17, 2020.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Jeanne M. Ives	70.8	29,144
		Gordon Kinzler	29.2	12,017
	Submit photo	Richard Mayers (Write-in)	0.0	1

	There were no incumbents in this race. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 41,162
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Evelyn Sanguinetti (R)

2014

See also: Virginia's 10th Congressional District elections, 2014

Redpath ran in the 2014 election for the U.S. House to represent Virginia's 10th District. Bill Redpath lost the general election on November 4, 2014.

Election results

**U.S. House, Virginia District 10 General Election, 2014**
Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	John Foust	40.4%	89,957
	Republican	Barbara Comstock	56.5%	125,914
	Libertarian	Bill Redpath	1.5%	3,393
	Green	Dianne Blais	0.4%	946
	Independent	Brad Eickholt	1.1%	2,442
	N/A	Write-in	0.1%	258
Total Votes				222,910
Source: Virginia Department of Elections

Campaign themes

2022

Video for Ballotpedia

Video submitted to Ballotpedia Released Mar 10, 2022

Ballotpedia survey responses

Bill Redpath completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2022. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Redpath's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

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Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

Since 2020, I have been the Managing Director of the Chicago office of Summit Ridge Group, LLC, which is a Valuation, Financial & Industry Consulting firm in the Telecom, Media & Satellite industries. Previously, I was a Vice President with BIA Advisory Services in Chantilly, VA (1985-2020). Before that, I had Finance or Accounting positions with NBC and ABC in New York, WISH-TV in Indianapolis, and Arthur Andersen & Co. in Cincinnati. I have an active Certified Public Accountant (CPA) license in Illinois, am a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), am an Accredited Senior Appraiser (ASA) in Business Valuation with the American Society of Appraisers, and have the Accredited in Business Valuation (ABV) designation from the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants. I have been a Libertarian Party member since 1984. I was a member of the Libertarian National Committee (1989-1993 & 2003-2020) and served as Chairman of the LNC (2006-2010). I am best known within the Libertarian Party for my work on ballot access for LP candidates. I served as Treasurer of FairVote, a national election reform organization (1995-2020), and currently serve as Treasurer of Citizens in Charge and Citizens in Charge Foundation, which support Direct Democracy Initiative & Referendum processes in the United States. I am engaged to Julie Fox, three time Libertarian Party candidate for Comptroller of Illinois. We live in West Dundee, Illinois.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

I support economic freedom. Government is too big, and taxes are too high and too complicated. Both Republican and Democratic politicians continue to increase the size of government and its interference in the economy. They also refuse to address the forthcoming Entitlement Crisis in this nation, which could lead to an economically catastrophic Federal Debt Crisis. Only Libertarian candidates, such as me, will actually reduce the size of government and institute a simplified tax system to enhance your economic freedom and prosperity for all.
I generally take liberal positions on social issues. I am pro-choice on abortion, although I think there needs to be a grand compromise on this issue. Bill Clinton was correct when he stated that abortions should be "legal, safe and rare." I support ending the Federal War on Drugs and leaving this issue to be addressed by the states. I favor a non-interventionist foreign policy that will save Americans vast sums of money and make us all safer.
The reason there are so few third party and independent candidates on the ballot in Illinois is its horrible ballot access laws, which incumbent legislators have passed to keep political competition to an absolute minimum. A vote for me helps break that R&D stranglehold on Illinois politics. If I, or one of the statewide Libertarian Party candidates, gets 5% of the vote in his or her race, it will make it easier for Libertarian candidates to get on the ballot in Illinois in future elections. I also support electoral reform to help bring about a multiparty system, which is the norm among the world's established democracies.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

There is an old saying--so old that nobody uses it anymore--that people join the Libertarian Party because of two issues--not the same two issues, but their two issues. I joined the LP in 1984, and that was absolutely correct for me. My two issues were Social Security and the Drug War. They still are. Social Security is an unsustainable plan that is a horrible deal for younger workers. I support the Cato Institute's "6.2% Solution" for Social Security, which allows people under the age of 55 to opt out of the Social Security system and use their employee portion of the FICA tax to invest in private, inheritable investment accounts in exchange for waiving their rights to future Social Security benefits. I also support ending the Federal War on Drugs; I think the issue should be left to the states, just as alcohol regulation was at the end of Federal prohibition in the 1930s.

Who do you look up to? Whose example would you like to follow, and why?

Other than my parents, the most important person in the history of my life has been Richard Winger, the publisher of Ballot Access News, a monthly newsletter, and ballot-access.org, a website covering ballot access issues, mainly in the United States. He is the foremost authority on ballot access laws in the US. He has dedicated his life to improving ballot access laws for minor party and independent candidates for public office. It takes incredible persistence and tenacity to do what he has done for so long. Please watch this video interview with him (sorry, but I cannot make a link in this box, so please copy and paste this URL):

https://reason.com/video/2016/09/30/third-party-ballot-access/

Is there a book, essay, film, or something else you would recommend to someone who wants to understand your political philosophy?

I would recommend the books "Capitalism and Freedom," by Milton Friedman and "The Libertarian Mind: A Manifesto for Freedom" by David Boaz.

What legacy would you like to leave?

I would like to be remembered as someone who served his profession (Business Valuation) with integrity and worked hard to promote Libertarianism, to reduce ballot access barriers for minor party and independent political candidates and to help bring about a multiparty political system in the United States.

If you could be any fictional character, who would you want to be?

I would want to be either Hank Rearden in Atlas Shrugged or Howard Roark in The Fountainhead. They both led heroic lives.

What do you perceive to be the United States’ greatest challenges as a nation over the next decade?

I think the greatest challenge this nation faces is to avoid a future Federal Debt Crisis that could make the Great Recession of 2008-2009 look mild by comparison. This should be done by reforming Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. My proposed reforms are on the Issues page at billredpath.com. Maintaining international peace will also be a challenge, and I think that will best be done through the pursuit of free trade (including unilateral repeal of all US tariffs, except for real national security exceptions) and a restrained, non-interventionist foreign policy.

What are your thoughts on term limits?

I generally support term limits, but I think other reforms to our democracy are more important. I support Ranked Choice Voting for single winner elections. But, not all elections have to be single winner elections. Legislative elections don't have to be single winner elections, In fact, elections for the Illinois House of Representatives used three seat districts and cumulative voting from 1870 to 1980. I would rather see legislative elections using fewer multimember districts, and with more members elected from each district, using Ranked Choice Voting. I support the Fair Representation Act currently in Congress that would mandate multimember districts for the US House of Representatives, where feasible, with all US House elections conducted using Ranked Choice Voting. More on the Fair Representation Act can be seen here (I cannot make a link in this box, so please copy and paste this URL):

https://fairvote.org/our-reforms/fair-representation-act/

Is there a particular senator, past or present, whom you want to model yourself after?

Barry Goldwater. My answer might be affected by my friendship during the late 1980s and early 1990s with the late Karl Hess, who was Sen. Goldwater's Chief Speechwriter during his 1964 presidential campaign. First of all, Sen. Goldwater was direct. You knew where he stood on an issue. He was a strong, principled economic conservative--and, I mean a true economic conservative--not like so many "conservatives" these days who argue for more government intervention in our society through industrial policy or high tariffs. In his later years, he turned more libertarian on social issues. According to his Wikipedia page, "Goldwater's views on social and cultural issues grew increasingly libertarian as he neared the end of his career. After leaving the Senate, Goldwater's views on social issues cemented as libertarian. He criticized the "money-making ventures by fellows like Pat Robertson and others [in the Republican Party] who are trying to ... make a religious organization out of it." During his winter year, he supported homosexuals serving openly in the military, environmental protection, gay rights, abortion rights, adoption rights for same-sex couples, and the legalization of medicinal marijuana. It is my understanding that, in 1963, Sen. Goldwater was in discussions with President Kennedy regarding the conduct of the 1964 Presidential campaign. Even though they would have been R vs. D opponents, they were planning to do at least some campaigning together, flying to a location, deplaning, debating each other, then getting back on the plane to fly someplace else to debate again. If this had actually occurred, the effect on future political campaigns in our nation would have been deep. It was not to be, with possibly tragic results for the future of our democracy.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

2020

Bill Redpath completed Ballotpedia's Candidate Connection survey in 2020. The survey questions appear in bold and are followed by Redpath's responses. Candidates are asked three required questions for this survey, but they may answer additional optional questions as well.

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Who are you? Tell us about yourself.

I am a Managing Director in the Chicago office of Summit Ridge Group, LLC. We do business valuation and financial consulting work in the Media, Telecom & Satellite sectors.

I was born and raised in Findlay, Ohio. I earned a BA from Indiana University in 1978, with majors in Economics and Political Science. I earned an MBA degree from The University of Chicago in 1980. I am a Certified Public Accountant (Virginia), a Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA), and an Accredited Senior Appraiser (ASA) in Business Valuation with the American Society of Appraisers. I also hold the Accredited in Business Valuation (ABV) designation from the AICPA.

I have been a Libertarian Party member since 1984. I was Chairman of the Libertarian National Committee (LNC) from 2006 to 2010, and I served on the LNC for over 21 years. I am probably best known within the LP for my work on ballot access. I have led the LP's ballot access efforts since 1990, and in the eight presidential elections since 1992, the LP has had a presidential candidate on the ballot in all 50 states & DC five times. The LP, founded in 1971, has had longevity and ballot access success unmatched by other third parties.

I have been a six-time candidate for public office in Virginia, including Governor (2001), US Senate (2008), and US House, 10th District (2010 & 2014).

I moved to IL in October 2019. I am engaged to Julie Fox, former Libertarian candidate for Comptroller of Illinois. We live in West Dundee.

Please list below 3 key messages of your campaign. What are the main points you want voters to remember about your goals for your time in office?

I am a Libertarian and stand for both economic freedom and personal freedom. The two older parties just offer varying shades of statism.
I want to reduce the size of the federal government to avoid a future federal debt crisis.
I am for free trade, including unilateral elimination of tariffs, and for an open, but regulated, immigration system, with no caps on the number of work visas.

What areas of public policy are you personally passionate about?

Well, that's an unusual question. It harkens me back to when I joined the Libertarian Party in 1984.

There is an old saying (so old that nobody actually says it anymore) that people join the Libertarian Party for two reasons. Not the same two reasons. Their two reasons. That was true with me. My two reasons were Social Security and The Drug War.

I simply think that it is not moral to forcibly take money from young and middle aged people to transfer to older people, who, on average, are better off financially than the people being taxed. Possibly the worst thing about Social Security, that seemingly never gets discussed, is that there are no personal property rights in Social Security. Congress has the power to change Social Security benefits. Future returns on Social Security taxes paid by young people are very poor and do not come close to what private investment accounts would return. And, entitlements are bankrupting this nation. All entitlements need to be addressed, including Social Security.

The Drug War is a recidivist failure. It has never accomplished what it was supposed to do-bring about a drug free America. But, even worse, it set the stage for the gun violence we have seen for years in this nation and helped fuel the policing problems that led to the recent violent protests. The late Harry Browne, Libertarian Party presidential candidate in 1996 and 2000, always referred to it as "the insane War on Drugs." Never a truer word was spoken.

Is there a book, essay, film, or something else you would recommend to someone who wants to understand your political philosophy?

Capitalism and Freedom, by Milton Friedman. Even though it was written in 1962, it is a beautifully written classic book that is not too long.

What legacy would you like to leave?

That I worked hard to expand both economic freedoms and personal freedoms for all individuals and to open up the US political process to more than the dead end binary choice of Republicans or Democrats.

What was your very first job? How long did you have it?

If you consider it a job, it would have been umpiring Youth League Baseball and Pony League Baseball in my hometown of Findlay, Ohio. I think I did it for during springs and summers for about four years. Becoming a good balls and strikes umpire takes some time, and by developing the patience to let each pitch play itself out and not prejudge it, I think I achieved that.

If that isn't a job, then I worked at WFIN(AM)/WHMQ(FM) in Findlay starting at the age of 16. I was on the air as a disc jockey, read newscasts, etc. Jack of all trades, master of none. But, it was fun, it helped me become a state finalist in Extemporaneous Speaking (a forensic competition) in my Senior year of high school, and eventually led to a career in the broadcasting industry, although not on the air.

What is your favorite book? Why?

I'm a politician (sort of), so I'll answer the question I'd like to answer. My favorite movie is "My Favorite Year" (1982). I like it, not only because the movie is set in a place I used to work, and not only because it is very funny (particularly the scene at Benjy Stone's mother's apartment in Brooklyn), but because I found it to be one of the most uplifting movies that I have ever seen. Alan Swann (played by Peter O'Toole) overcomes his serious shortcomings and fears to do something heroic. If you haven't seen it, you should. I guarantee you won't ask for those 92 minutes back.

What process do you favor for redistricting?

I favor an independent commission involving citizens of a state to take the redistricting process out of the hands of state legislators. But, I think we should have multimember districts for legislatures elected through Ranked Choice Voting. I support the Fair Representation Act in Congress that would mandate multimember districts, in states with more than one US House member, elected through Ranked Choice Voting. In states with only one US House member, Ranked Choice Voting would be used for that single winner election.

Do you believe that it's beneficial for representatives to have previous experience in government or politics?

Previous experience can be a good thing in terms of knowing how the legislative process works, but perhaps such people become too beholden to the existing party structure and status quo way of doing things. I think fresh ideas and open mindedness in the legislative process are more important.

What do you perceive to be the United States’ greatest challenges as a nation over the next decade?

I think the biggest challenge facing the United States right now is to change federal government policies to avoid a debt crisis sometime in the future. It seems inevitable to me that, without reducing federal government deficits, that will happen, although nobody knows when. I think that change should happen through reduced federal spending. Federal government spending is too high, in my opinion, because of the concept of positive rights-that people have a right to food, shelter, health care, etc.-the right to goods and services provided to them by others. That is ultimately what drives federal spending. There needs to be a fundamental rethink about that, and there needs to be more respect in this nation for the concept of economic freedom, and its importance in the production of the goods and services that constitute our material prosperity. This nation needs to stop looking so much to the federal government to solve our problems, and more toward civil society to do so.

Note: Ballotpedia reserves the right to edit Candidate Connection survey responses. Any edits made by Ballotpedia will be clearly marked with [brackets] for the public. If the candidate disagrees with an edit, he or she may request the full removal of the survey response from Ballotpedia.org. Ballotpedia does not edit or correct typographical errors unless the candidate's campaign requests it.

External links

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Candidate

U.S. Senate Illinois

Personal

Footnotes

↑ Libertarian Party of Virginia, "Our Candidates," accessed March 21, 2014
↑ Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on September 6, 2020

[show]

Illinois' current delegation to the United States Congress

Senators

Tammy Duckworth (D)

Dick Durbin (D)

Representatives

District 1

Jonathan Jackson (D)

District 2

Robin Kelly (D)

District 3

Delia Ramirez (D)

District 4

Jesus Garcia (D)

District 5

Mike Quigley (D)

District 6

Sean Casten (D)

District 7

Danny Davis (D)

District 8

Raja Krishnamoorthi (D)

District 9

Jan Schakowsky (D)

District 10

Brad Schneider (D)

District 11

Bill Foster (D)

District 12

Mike Bost (R)

District 13

Nikki Budzinski (D)

District 14

Lauren Underwood (D)

District 15

Mary Miller (R)

District 16

Darin LaHood (R)

District 17

Eric Sorensen (D)

Democratic Party (16)

Republican Party (3)

[1] Libertarian Party of Virginia, "Our Candidates," accessed March 21, 2014

[bio-2] Information submitted to Ballotpedia through the Candidate Connection survey on September 6, 2020

[1]

[2]

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Bill Redpath

Biography

Elections

2022

General election

General election for U.S. Senate Illinois

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. Senate Illinois

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. Senate Illinois

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

2020

General election

General election for U.S. House Illinois District 6

Democratic primary election

Democratic primary for U.S. House Illinois District 6

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

Republican primary election

Republican primary for U.S. House Illinois District 6

Withdrawn or disqualified candidates

2014

Election results

Campaign themes

2022

Video for Ballotpedia

Ballotpedia survey responses

2020

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