Mark Matthew Herd

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Mark Matthew Herd

Libertarian Party

Elections and appointments

Last election

June 5, 2018

Education

High school

Harvard-Westlake, University High School

Bachelor's

University of Arizona

Personal

Profession

Political Consultant

Contact

Campaign Facebook

Personal website

Mark Matthew Herd (Libertarian Party) ran for election to the California State Senate to represent District 26. He lost in the primary on June 5, 2018.

Herd was a candidate for District 5 representative on the Los Angeles City Council in California. Herd was defeated in the primary election on March 7, 2017. He had previously ran for the council unsuccessfully in 2013.

Herd was also defeated as a Libertarian candidate for the U.S. Congress twice. In 2016, he ran for the Senate; in 2014, he ran for California's 33rd Congressional District.

Biography

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Herd was born in Santa Monica and graduated from Harvard-Westlake, University High School. He earned a B.S. in economics from the University of Arizona in 1989; he was a member of the Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity and the rugby club at the university. Herd is the owner of the political consulting firm Mark Herd Political Solutions.

From 2010 to 2014, Herd was a councilman on the Westwood Neighborhood Council. He also served as a board member of the Westwood Homeowners Association in 2009, as well as serving as president of the Park Ashton Homeowners Association in 2004, 2008, 2010, and 2012.

Elections

2018

See also: California State Senate elections, 2018

General election

General election for California State Senate District 26

Incumbent Ben Allen defeated Baron Bruno in the general election for California State Senate District 26 on November 6, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Ben Allen (D)	77.2	298,609
		Baron Bruno (Independent)	22.8	87,974

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	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified. Source	Total votes: 386,583 (100.00% precincts reporting)
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
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Nonpartisan primary election

Nonpartisan primary for California State Senate District 26

Incumbent Ben Allen and Baron Bruno defeated Mark Matthew Herd in the primary for California State Senate District 26 on June 5, 2018.

		Candidate	%	Votes
✔		Ben Allen (D)	76.8	144,283
✔		Baron Bruno (Independent)	12.3	23,119
		Mark Matthew Herd (L)	10.9	20,534

---

	Incumbents are bolded and underlined. The results have been certified.	Total votes: 187,936
= candidate completed the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection survey.
If you are a candidate and would like to tell readers and voters more about why they should vote for you, complete the Ballotpedia Candidate Connection Survey.
Do you want a spreadsheet of this type of data? Contact our sales team.

2017

See also: Municipal elections in Los Angeles, California (2017)

The city of Los Angeles, California, held primary elections for mayor, eight city council seats, city attorney, and city controller on March 7, 2017. Three community college board of trustees seats were also up for general election on that date.

Most races where no candidate earned a majority (50% plus one) of the primary votes cast advanced to a general election on May 16, 2017. This rule did not apply to the community college board races, which were determined by a plurality winner in the March election.

This election was the second impacted by Charter Amendment 1. Passed in March 2015, the amendment shifted city elections to even-numbered years beginning in 2020. As a result, officials elected in 2017 won special five-and-a-half year terms ending in 2022. Incumbent Paul Koretz defeated Jesse Creed and Mark Matthew Herd in the primary election for the District 5 seat on the Los Angeles City Council.

Los Angeles City Council, District 5 Primary Election, 2017
Candidate	Vote %	Votes
Paul Koretz Incumbent	65.88%	25,914
Jesse Creed	30.47%	11,986
Mark Matthew Herd	3.65%	1,435
Total Votes		39,335
Source: Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder/County Clerk, "March 7, 2017, Election Results: Statement of Votes Cast," accessed May 22, 2017

2016

See also: United States Senate election in California, 2016

Heading into the election, Ballotpedia rated California's U.S. Senate race as safely Democratic. California's U.S. Senate seat was open following the retirement of incumbent Barbara Boxer (D). Thirty-four candidates filed to run to replace Boxer, including seven Democrats, 12 Republicans, and 15 third-party candidates. Two Democrats, Kamala Harris and Loretta Sanchez, defeated the other 32 candidates to advance to the general election. Harris won the general election.

U.S. Senate, California General Election, 2016

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Kamala Harris	61.6%	7,542,753
	Democratic	Loretta Sanchez	38.4%	4,710,417
Total Votes				12,253,170
Source: California Secretary of State

U.S. Senate, California Primary, 2016

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Democratic	Kamala Harris	40.2%	3,000,689
	Democratic	Loretta Sanchez	19%	1,416,203
	Republican	Duf Sundheim	7.8%	584,251
	Republican	Phil Wyman	4.7%	352,821
	Republican	Tom Del Beccaro	4.3%	323,614
	Republican	Greg Conlon	3.1%	230,944
	Democratic	Steve Stokes	2.3%	168,805
	Republican	George Yang	1.5%	112,055
	Republican	Karen Roseberry	1.5%	110,557
	Republican	Tom Palzer	1.2%	93,263
	Libertarian	Gail Lightfoot	1.3%	99,761
	Republican	Ron Unz	1.2%	92,325
	Democratic	Massie Munroe	0.8%	61,271
	Green	Pamela Elizondo	1.3%	95,677
	Republican	Don Krampe	0.9%	69,635
	Republican	Jarrell Williamson	0.9%	64,120
	Independent	Elanor Garcia	0.9%	65,084
	Republican	Von Hougo	0.9%	63,609
	Democratic	President Cristina Grappo	0.8%	63,330
	Republican	Jerry Laws	0.7%	53,023
	Libertarian	Mark Matthew Herd	0.6%	41,344
	Independent	Ling Ling Shi	0.5%	35,196
	Peace and Freedom	John Parker	0.3%	22,374
	Democratic	Herbert Peters	0.4%	32,638
	Democratic	Emory Rodgers	0.4%	31,485
	Independent	Mike Beitiks	0.4%	31,450
	Independent	Clive Grey	0.4%	29,418
	Independent	Jason Hanania	0.4%	27,715
	Independent	Paul Merritt	0.3%	24,031
	Independent	Jason Kraus	0.3%	19,318
	Independent	Don Grundmann	0.2%	15,317
	Independent	Scott Vineberg	0.2%	11,843
	Independent	Tim Gildersleeve	0.1%	9,798
	Independent	Gar Myers	0.1%	8,726
Total Votes				7,461,690
Source: California Secretary of State

2014

See also: California's 33rd Congressional District elections, 2014

Herd ran in the 2014 election for the U.S. House to represent California's 33rd District. Herd was defeated in the blanket primary on June 3, 2014.

U.S. House, California District 33 Primary, 2014

Party		Candidate	Vote %	Votes
	Republican	Elan Carr	21.6%	23,476
	Democratic	Ted Lieu	18.8%	20,432
	Democratic	Wendy Greuel	16.6%	17,988
	Independent	Marianne Williamson	13.2%	14,335
	Democratic	Matt Miller	12%	13,005
	Republican	Lily Gilani	7.1%	7,673
	Republican	Kevin Mottus	2.4%	2,561
	Democratic	Barbara Mulvaney	2.3%	2,516
	Democratic	David Kanuth	1.4%	1,554
	Democratic	Kristie Holmes	0.9%	994
	Libertarian	Mark Herd	0.8%	883
	Green	Michael Sachs	0.7%	732
	Democratic	Michael Shapiro	0.6%	650
	Independent	Tom Fox	0.5%	509
	Democratic	Zein Obagi	0.4%	477
	Democratic	Vince Flaherty	0.3%	345
	Democratic	James Graf	0.3%	327
	Independent	Brent Roske	0.2%	188
Total Votes				108,645
Source: California Secretary of State

Campaign finance

2017

Herd was exempt from campaign finance reporting, according to reports available from the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission on February 27, 2017, because the campaign had not raised or spent at least $1,000.

Campaign themes

2017

In a flyer posted on his campaign website, Herd listed his top 10 priorities for the city and a corresponding list of his proposed solutions.

“	Top priorities for Los Angeles 1. Homeless crisis 2. Public Safety 3. Traffic 4. Neighborhood Council Funding 5. Parking 6. Jobs 7. Taxes 8. Regulations 9. Disaster Preparedness 10. Sidewalk and street repair	”
—Mark Matthew Herd (2017)

The solutions listed were:

“	1. Open ALL Shelters 24/7/365 with on site services (ie. housing assistance, job training, clothing, $ etc. More affordable housing. 2. More community policing in high crime neighborhoods. End "Cops on the Dots" program. More CRIME Townhall mtg's. 3. Sync city signals for better traffic flow. More parking spaces and development near high speed rail needed. 4. INCREASE FUNDING to 100k 5. NEVER sell our city parking lots. Build more parking lots in high density areas like Venice Beach, Hollywood etc. 6. Reduce taxes and burdensome regulations on businesses to help spur growth in the local economy and job market. 7. Review ALL tax increases and fees added by the city in the last 20 yrs. to see if they can be eliminated or reduced. 8. Roll back certain regulations that hurt business, serve no real purpose and have no record of success. 9. LA is long overdue for another MAJOR earthquake. We need to be ready for the next BIG ONE by preparing and educating the public via psa's and events. 10. This needs to be a TOP priority for the city and hasn't been because special projects always seem to be more important. THAT needs to change and the city needs to find and allocate MAJOR resources towards street and sidewalk repair.	”
—Mark Matthew Herd (2017)

2016

The following issues were listed on Herd's campaign website. For a full list of campaign themes, click here.

“	The Economy: A free and competitive market allocates resources in the most efficient manner. Each person has the right to offer goods and services to others on the free market. The only proper role of government in the economic realm is to protect property rights, adjudicate disputes, and provide a legal framework in which voluntary trade is protected. All efforts by government to redistribute wealth, or to control or manage trade, are improper in a free society. Foreign Policy: The foundation of libertarianism is mutual respect. It is a principle that extends to our relationships with people throughout the world. Taxes: The Libertarian Party is working every day to cut your taxes. By contrast, professional politicians from the other parties just want more of your money, and are busy increasing the size of government. Civil Liberties: The defense of the country requires that we have adequate intelligence to detect and to counter threats to domestic security. This requirement must not take priority over maintaining the civil liberties of our citizens. The Bill of Rights provides no exceptions for a time of war. Intelligence agencies that legitimately seek to preserve the security of the nation must be subject to oversight and transparency. Freedom of Speech: We should always defend the rights of individuals to unrestricted freedom of speech, freedom of the press and the right of individuals to dissent from government itself.	”
—Mark Matthew Herd's campaign website

2014

Herd's campaign website listed the following issues:

“	The Economy: "Bailouts are ALWAYS bad for the taxpayer, for the economy, and for business. Why? Because rewarding the mismanagement of American corporations with a taxpayer-subsidized lifeline does NOTHING to encourage reform or fix the problems that pushed the companies to the brink of failure." Foreign Policy: "The twin pillars of a sane foreign policy are: (1) Building positive relationships, with an emphasis on free trade, and (2) Avoiding negative relationships, with an emphasis on military non-intervention, unless absolutely necessary." Civil Liberties: "Over the past few years, we have seen repeated government attempts to circumvent or even blatantly disregard the most basic of our guaranteed personal liberties. Rarely a day passes where there isn’t some major media mention of Guantanamo Bay, the Patriot Act, the Real ID Act, secret prisons, the use of torture or domestic spying." Immigration Reform: "Today an estimated 12 million people live in the U.S. without authorization, 1.6 million in Texas alone, and that number grows every year. Many Americans understandably want the rule of law restored to a system where law-breaking has become the norm." Freedom of Speech: "We should always defend the rights of individuals to unrestricted freedom of speech, freedom of the press and the right of individuals to dissent from government itself."	”
—Mark Matthew Herd's campaign website

See also

• State legislative elections, 2018
• California State Senate elections, 2018
• California State Senate

Los Angeles, California	California	Municipal government	Other local coverage

External links

• Search Google News for this topic
• California State Senate
• Los Angeles City Council
• Campaign website
• Facebook page

Footnotes

[show]

Current members of the California State Senate

Leadership

Minority Leader:Brian Jones

Senators

District 1

Megan Dahle (R)

District 2

Mike McGuire (D)

District 3

Christopher Cabaldon (D)

District 4

Marie Alvarado-Gil (R)

District 5

Jerry McNerney (D)

District 6

Roger Niello (R)

District 7

Jesse Arreguín (D)

District 8

Angelique Ashby (D)

District 9

Tim Grayson (D)

District 10

Aisha Wahab (D)

District 11

Scott Wiener (D)

District 12

Shannon Grove (R)

District 13

Josh Becker (D)

District 14

Anna Caballero (D)

District 15

Dave Cortese (D)

District 16

Melissa Hurtado (D)

District 17

John Laird (D)

District 18

Steve Padilla (D)

District 19

Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh (R)

District 20

Caroline Menjivar (D)

District 21

S. Limón (D)

District 22

Susan Rubio (D)

District 23

Suzette Valladares (R)

District 24

Ben Allen (D)

District 25

Sasha Renée Pérez (D)

District 26

Maria Durazo (D)

District 27

Henry Stern (D)

District 28

Lola Smallwood-Cuevas (D)

District 29

Eloise Reyes (D)

District 30

Bob Archuleta (D)

District 31

Sabrina Cervantes (D)

District 32

Kelly Seyarto (R)

District 33

Lena Gonzalez (D)

District 34

Tom Umberg (D)

District 35

Laura Richardson (D)

District 36

Tony Strickland (R)

District 37

Steven Choi (R)

District 38

Catherine Blakespear (D)

District 39

Akilah Weber (D)

District 40

Brian Jones (R)

Democratic Party (30)

Republican Party (10)