Jeremy Kauffman, a former Free State Project leader who now chairs the New Hampshire Libertarian Party, is facing criminal charges stemming from an incident where police say a fender bender in a Manchester parking lot prompted Kauffman to fight “several people” and yell racist epithets.
Court documents say police arrived at the Elm Street Market Basket shortly after 2 p.m. on April 4 to respond to a fight. Bystanders told police that a man, later identified as Kauffman, was “causing issues,” according to a police report.
Police say Kauffman drove his car into another car and then began making racist statements, including telling a bystander to “go back to Africa.”
A bystander told police that Kauffman’s two young children “had to pull him (Kauffman) away from other people and drag him into the store.“ Police say when they located Kauffman inside Market Basket, he refused to identify himself and “attempted to pull away and remain uncooperative. Due to his resistance he was placed in handcuffs.”
Police say Kauffman — who has a long history of controversial online statements, including racist and threatening social media posts — faces misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct and obstruction of government administration from the incident.
NHPR could not reach Kauffman for comment, but he told InDepthNH.org, which first reported on the incident, that “Free Staters want to end qualified immunity so that the police who perform illegitimate kidnappings suffer criminal consequences.”
Kauffman also seemed to blame the incident on Black people: “Low IQ schizophrenic Africans who scream at kids in parking lots should be deported from New Hampshire. We shouldn’t punish decent men who stand up to them,” he said.
Kauffman’s arrest came just weeks after he was elected to lead New Hampshire Libertarians. It also coincides with his bid to win election as national Libertarian Party chairman.
Kauffmann’s platform consists of a single issue: dissolve the national Libertarian Party, which he says is ineffectual.
Libertarians are slated to pick their new national leader during their party convention in Grand Rapids, Michigan later this month.
Kauffman had earlier been a leader of the Free State Project, which seeks to encourage libertarian-minded people to move to New Hampshire. But he was ousted from the organization in 2023 over his history of offensive online commentary.
Kauffman’s case is scheduled for trial in Manchester District Court July 6.
