LOS ANGELES _ The Libertarian Party's reputation for attracting exotics is infamous in political circles.
There's the candidate in San Francisco who has run for multiple local offices under the name Starchild. The 2016 presidential hopeful who wanted marijuana taxes to fund "galactic expansion for generations." The aspirant with purple-blue skin borne from his constant consumption of colloidal silver, a putative cure for cancer.
But recently elected Riverside County Supervisor Jeff Hewitt just might be the strangest Libertarian of them all: a politician capable of winning elections who could move the party from the fringes into the mainstream.
In November's election, the 65-year-old grandfather and two-term Calimesa council member beat former Republican Assemblyman Russ Bogh, despite being outspent 2 to 1. Now, Hewitt is in a position in which his party's gospel _ lower taxes, slashed pensions, fewer regulations and more privatization _ could get put into practice in Riverside County, which has a $5.6 billion budget and a population larger than those of 11states.
A swimming pool contractor by trade, Hewitt is now the most powerful Libertarian ever elected in the United States. Though party members have served as mayors, district attorneys and even state senators, none before had represented an area of more than 50,000 residents. Hewitt's District5 holds 438,000.
His rise has thrilled Libertarians nationwide, who believe their man can bring respectability to a party long dismissed as being a group of free-market-loving Ayn Rand fanboys with little chance of ever winning anything important.
"It's huge," said Libertarian Party of California Chair Mimi Robson. "It shows that a Libertarian is not a crazy, offshoot third-party thing, but a legitimate choice."
Longtime Republican strategist Mike Madrid said it's easy to dismiss Hewitt's victory as a fluke that happened during an election cycle in which California's Republican Party got clobbered in traditional strongholds such as Orange County, the Central Valley and the Inland Empire.
But he thinks Hewitt "seems to have the recipe" for how the Libertarian Party can carry the mantle of conservatism in California as the Republican Party continues its decline: Focus on local issues and stop "being a hater."
"It may be more unique than not, but that's how these trends start," he said of Hewitt's upset victory. "It's like baseball stats: It's not a thing until it's a thing. And then it's a thing to watch."
Jodi Balma, a political science professor at Fullerton College, said Hewitt's success shows that Libertarian candidates could "build a pipeline to higher office" by first winning nonpartisan local races for school boards, city councils and other local positions. Some of those officeholders then could form the next generation of state legislators and congress members.
"As the national brand of Republicanism has become increasingly anti-education, anti-science and anti-fiscal responsibility, I find more and more former Republicans who don't want a one-party state," Balma said. To fill a third-party role, she added, "the Libertarian Party would need to define itself and market itself."
Hewitt, for his part, still can't believe his good fortune _ but he plans to make the most of it.
"The one thing about being a Libertarian is that you have a delusional optimism that you have a chance to win," he said.
Broadening his party's appeal to a national audience, Hewitt suggested, hinges on convincing voters that Libertarians _ not Donald Trump or the new crop of activist Democrats _ are the torchbearers of liberty and social progress.
"I offer true conservative values: smaller government and non-interventionism," he said. "We have real values that are measurable, consistent and not just the flavor of the month."
