Nobody is as cynical as someone who has seen the legislative process from the inside in a corrupt place like Albany. I am that someone.

Nevertheless, I sometimes find myself being forgetful and letting a tiny glimmer of hope into my heart.

There are actually a few folks running for office this time around who don’t make me immediately despair. I have plenty of time to be disappointed in them later on.

Rep. Justin Amash, Republican incumbent from the 3rd District in Michigan.

I like Justin Amash. He says reasonable things, and many, or perhaps even most, of his votes on bills are the way I would vote, too, if presented with the same dreck. Amash has one of the best records of doing the most basic part of his job: he shows up to vote. Then, he explains his votes and posts those explanations on various widely-available platforms.

Amash’s seat seems pretty secure. The last time a Democrat was elected as Representative for his district was in 1974, and was soundly defeated 2 short years later.

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Larry Sharpe is running for governor of my native state (NY) as a Libertarian.

Sharpe has pleased me with his positions on many issues I find important: the NYS SAFE Act; public education; business development/corporate taxes; fathers’ rights; drugs; occupational licensing(!); victimless crimes.

Significant to this Upstater: Sharpe doesn’t think the state ends in Larchmont. Sharpe and/or his running mate, Andrew Hollister, have been actively campaigning across the entire state, making appearances at veterans’ groups BBQs, libraries, tiny county fairs, farmer’s markets, vape shops, and coffee houses.

Andrew Cuomo and friends have been a disaster for an already besieged state. Larry Sharpe is really the only viable alternative that I have ever seen to the same old corruption in New York.

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And then there is Austin Petersen, who is running as a Republican for the Senate seat currently held by the completely unprincipled and not-too-bright Democrat Claire McCaskill.

I’ve only recently begun paying much attention to Petersen, which I’m thinking might have been an oversight. There are some issues on which we don’t agree, but he is massively better than the incumbent or the presumptive Republican candidate, Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley.

It’s a crowded field, with eleven people competing in next Tuesday’s primary for the chance to unseat McCaskill.

Petersen has a background in media production and it shows in his use of social media. His Ghost Gunner II Giveaway is a brilliant combination of reaching out to pro Second Amendment voters and trolling the gun grabbers, garnering publicity on both sides of the issue.

Best of luck to him next week. Regardless of the outcome, I predict we’ll be hearing from Petersen for a long time to come.

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Rep. Thomas Massie, Republican incumbent from the 4th District in Kentucky.

There are many issues on which I do not see eye-to-eye with Thomas Massie. However, he has been on the right side of the Second Amendment abuses which have been going on forever and are ratcheting up every day. And that goes a long way with me.

Just a side note: The Kentucky list of candidates is pretty amusing. Take a look at occupations.

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Illinois Races

Unfortunately, our horrible Republican governor is likely to be replaced by an even more horrible Democratic governor. I hate them both, so lets focus on the fact that at least there are a number of candidates for all the state-wide offices from several other political parties!

The Libertarian candidates for governor and attorney general have particularly amusing names.

I almost want to like gubernatorial hopeful “Kash” Jackson simply for the truth-in-advertising nature of the nickname of an Illinois political candidate.

And for attorney general, just a good ol’ boy from Southern IL: Bubba Harsy.

Really, none of the Libertarian candidates have any chance whatsoever. But it heartens me that at least they are now on the ballots.

Please, jump into the comments and let us know who else is out there this year about whom we can feel even marginally OK.