Libertarian Party Nominates Chase Oliver as Presidential Candidate

Libertarian Chase Oliver, candidate for Georgia's U.S. Senate seat, listens during a debate in Atlanta on Oct. 16, 2022. Ben Gray/AP Photo

Political activist Chase Oliver has won the Libertarian Party presidential nomination over former President Donald Trump and independent 2024 presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. after multiple rounds of voting at the party’s convention.

The Libertarian Party announced on May 26 that its delegates have selected Mr. Oliver as their presidential candidate for the November election.

“We did it! I am officially the presidential nominee,” Mr. Oliver said on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter. “There is no better unifying ticket in this party than this one. It’s time to unify and move forward for liberty.”

Mr. Oliver also called for the nomination of his running mate, Mike ter Maat.

“But the work is not done, please help me nominate my running mate @terMaatMike,” he said.

The 38-year-old activist of Atlanta previously ran for a Senate seat in Georgia in 2022, receiving 2 percent of the vote, which led to a runoff that Republican Herschel Walker lost to Democrat Raphael Warnock.

Mr. Oliver, also known as the first openly gay Senate candidate in Georgia, ran for Congress in Georgia’s Fifth Congressional District in 2020, where he earned 2 percent of the vote.

His campaign website calls for major cuts to the federal budget with an eye toward balancing the budget, the abolition of the death penalty, the closure of all overseas military bases, and ending military support to Israel and Ukraine.

(Left) Former President Donald Trump holds a rally in the South Bronx in New York on May 23, 2024. (Right) Independent Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks to attendees during a campaign rally at Brazos Hall in Austin, Texas, on May 13, 2024. Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times; Brandon Bell/Getty Images

President Trump, who spoke at the party’s convention on May 25, said he didn’t submit the necessary paperwork for the party’s nomination.

The former president said he would have “absolutely” secured the Libertarian Party’s nomination if he hadn’t already become the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

“The reason I didn’t file paperwork for the Libertarian Nomination, which I would have absolutely gotten if I wanted it (as everyone could tell by the enthusiasm of the Crowd last night!), was the fact that, as the Republican Nominee, I am not allowed to have the Nomination of another Party,” he said on X on May 25.

“Regardless, I believe I will get a Majority of the Libertarian Votes.”

In a pitch for votes, he also told party members that he would commute the founder of the infamous Silk Road online marketplace during his first day in office.

Mr. Kennedy, who received support from some libertarian delegates but failed to garner enough votes to continue, said speaking at the party’s convention on May 24 was “a high point” of his campaign.

“While we may not agree on every downstream issue, our core values of peace, free speech, and civil liberties make us natural allies,” he said on X.

“Together we will break the stranglehold of the Uniparty; end the forever wars; pardon Julian Assange, Edward Snowden, and Ross Ulbricht; dismantle wasteful and abusive bureaucracies, and restore the authority of the Bill of Rights.”

Mr. Kennedy said he would have accepted the Libertarian Party presidential nomination if it had been offered. He left the Democratic Party last year to run for president as an independent.

“What an unexpected honor to wake up this morning to a groundswell in the Libertarian Party seeking to nominate me. I would have accepted the nomination if offered because independents and third parties need to unite right now to reclaim our country from the corrupt two-party system,” he said.

Mr. Kennedy chose to run as an independent after facing multiple roadblocks from the Democratic National Committee and claiming that the organization was “rigging the primary” to favor President Joe Biden and prevent other candidates from competing.

Jeff Louderback and the Associated Press contributed to this report.