Ericka Redic, a right-wing content creator and accountant who finished second in the Republican primary for Vermont’s open U.S. House seat, plans to run as a Libertarian.
Redic made the announcement Thursday morning on a Facebook livestream of her show, Generally Irritable.
“I am not conceding the race,” she said.
Liam Madden, who won Tuesday’s GOP primary, initially said Wednesday that he wanted to turn down the nomination to run as an independent — but only if the Republican Party kept its ticket blank.
Realizing he had failed to register as an independent, Madden flip-flopped later that day and said he would run as a Republican after all.
“Mr. Madden thinks he can make a joke and a mockery out of the Republican party,” Redic told viewers on her livestream Thursday. “He’s going to renege on his promise. And that’s what you can count on him doing as Vermont’s congressman,” she said, adding that Madden, a veteran, had “dishonored” his “uniform” in his treatment of Republican voters.
Madden beat Redic by eight points in Tuesday’s primary, earning 35% of the vote to Redic’s 27%. The Republican nominee has said throughout the campaign that he identifies as an independent and ran on the Republican ticket to build name recognition.
In a statement released by the Redic campaign, Olga Mardach-Duclerc, chair of the Libertarian Party of Vermont, expressed her support for Redic.
“Although she does not have the financial war chest of a Bernie backed candidate or the sleight of hand confidence of the not-republican nominee — she is very clear and consistent on her principles,” Mardach-Duclerc said, referring to Democratic nominee Becca Balint and Madden.