In the September 6 special election to fill a the empty seat in Rockingham-14, Libertarian candidate Brendan Kelly received 17.3% of the vote. Kelly faced both a Democrat and a Republican on the ballot.

The clouds may have rolled in early on election day, but so did Brendan's campaign, putting in long hours in the past weeks to meet voters, place signs and gather volunteers. As campaign manager Eileen Landies put it "We were singing in the rain!"

Brendan said, "My team was great, but I was out-spent by about twenty to one. We made a good run and got a great amount of coverage. I will be running again in 2012."

"While the entire team was hoping for a win, we are pleased to see NH voters take a serious look at the Libertarian option," said party chair Rich Tomasso. "We will be building on this to grow our vote totals even higher for the 2012 races."

LP Executive Director Wes Benedict commented, "In partisan three-way races like this, Libertarian candidates historically have only gotten a few percent, on average. Brendan Kelly's 17% is an excellent showing, very encouraging. Our party is moving upward."

The following are some of the news outlets that covered the election results:

Newburyport News
Houston Chronicle
Boston Globe
Seacoast Online