United States Pirate Party


The United States Pirate Party is an American political party founded in 2006 by Brent Allison and Alex English. The party's platform is aligned with the global Pirate movement, and supports reform of copyright laws to reflect open source and free culture values, government transparency, protection of privacy and civil liberties. The United States Pirate Party also advocates for evidence-based policy, egalitarianism, meritocracy and the hacker ethic as well as the rolling back of corporate personhood and corporate welfare. The USPP has also made a priority to advocate for changes in the copyright laws and removal of patents. It is the belief of the party that these restrictions greatly hinder the sharing and expansion of knowledge and resources.
The party's national organization has existed in multiple incarnations since its 2006 founding. Its most recent is the Pirate National Committee, formed in 2012 as a coalition of state parties. The PNC officially recognizes Pirate parties from 10 states, and tracks and assists in the growth of more state parties throughout the United States. The board of the USPP is the board of the PNC. The chair of the Pirate National Committee is known as the "Captain". The current Captain is Jolly Mitch.
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History

The Pirate Party was founded in June 2006 by University of Georgia graduate student Brent Allison in response to the success of the Swedish Pirate Party. Its platform was focused primarily on copyright reform and freedom from Internet censorship. The party first attempted to register in Utah during the 2007/2008 election cycle and failed to collect the required number of Statements of Support. In 2011, the Massachusetts Pirate Party became the first legally recognized Pirate Party in the US. By 2011, the Pirate Party reported over 3,000 members nationwide.
In 2012, a coalition of state Pirate parties formed the Pirate National Committee. By July of that year, the PNC drafted and adopted a new constitution, which outlined a broader ideology inspired by Rick Falkvinge's Pirate Wheel.

Elections

In 2015, Massachusetts Pirate Party Quartermaster Steve Revilak became the first pirate in the United States to be elected to office, elected to Arlington town meeting.
On July 2, 2022, the United States Pirate Party became a member of the Pirate Parties International, an umbrella organization, comprising 31 parties all over the world at the time of the USPP's admission.
Ethan Osborne, captain of the Kentucky Pirate Party, ran for Congress in Kentucky's 4th congressional district during the 2022 United States House of Representatives elections, finishing in 3rd place with over 10,000 votes or 3.9%. This is the largest number of votes for a Pirate candidate in US history as of 2022.
Party members voted to endorse the 2024 Vermin Supreme presidential campaign during their national convention in Bensenville, Illinois, which took place from June 1 to June 2.

Name

The Pirate Party defends their oft-criticized name in the preamble of the PNC's constitution:

Ideology

Factions within the Pirate Party include left-libertarians, classical liberals, anarchists, progressives, and radical centrists. Many Pirates explicitly decline to identify with any particular political ideology or philosophy. These more ideologically unaffiliated members of the party have expressed their concerns to instead "do what works" rather than be driven by a particular ideology.
The Pirate Party's platform originally centered on issues of copyright. "Like its international counterparts, the USPP's main practical concerns are digital intellectual property and privacy laws—specifically, the abolition of a 1998 digital U.S. copyright law, the reduction of copyrights to 14 years, and the expiration of patents that don't result in significant progress within four years."
In 2012, the party began an expansion of its platform, inspired by the Pirate Wheel. The party emphasizes the cultural values of the hacker ethic, open source and free culture, strong protection of individual civil liberties, government transparency, participatory governance, and evidence-based policy. It solidified these tenets by publishing a series of essays in January 2012 where it voiced its values using quotations from historical figures, including Benjamin Franklin, Mark Twain, Albert Camus and Thomas Jefferson in order to highlight the timelessness, urgency, and consensual agreement on its positions related to free culture.

PNC

Captain

Before 2012, the chairman of the party was elected every July by a membership vote, as established in the party constitution. After the 2012 formation of the PNC, the role's name was changed to captain. As of July 5th, 2025, there is also a Captain for the youth wing, Young Pirates USA.
NameFromTo
Brent AllisonJune 6, 2006June 9, 2006
Joshua CowlesJune 9, 2006May 2007
Andrew NortonMay 2007September 2008
Glenn KerbeinSeptember 2008July 2009
Ryan MartinJuly 2009December 29, 2009
Bradley HallDecember 29, 2009January 28, 2010
Brittany PhelpsJanuary 28, 2010July 15, 2011
Bradley HallJuly 15, 2011April, 2012
Travis McCreaApril, 2012November 14, 2012
Lindsay-Anne BrunnerNovember 14, 2012January 28, 2015
Andrew NortonJanuary 28, 2015March 1, 2016
Joseph KleinMarch 1, 2016May 15, 2017
Lindsay-Anne GorskiMay 15, 2017January 28, 2019
Meg CochranJanuary 28, 2019October 21, 2019
Joseph OnoroskiOctober 21, 2019November 25, 2019
Lindsay-Anne GorskiNovember 25, 2019December 2, 2019
Joseph KleinDecember 2, 2019June 6, 2021
Rose KleinJune 6, 2021June 5, 2022
Anthony Jay "AJ" PorterJune 5, 2022August 6, 2023
Drew BingamanAugust 6, 2023July 5th, 2025
"Jolly" Mitch DaviloJuly 5th, 2025Incumbent







Officers

  • Chair – Mitch Davilo
  • Vice Chair – Ty Clifford
  • Treasurer – Darren Mckeeman
  • Secretary – Blase Henry
  • State Moderator - Wanda Ward
  • Auditor – Eli McGee
  • Swarmcare Manager – Dustin Etts
  • Director of the Online - Morgan Landry
  • Director of Public Relations - Vacant
  • Co-Captains of Young Pirates USA - Jack Leisey and Lily Boyt