Chase Oliver, the Georgia Libertarian whose campaign for US Senate made national news last month, has announced his intention to explore the 2024 Libertarian Party nomination for president.
In early November, the 37-year-old Georgia resident made headline news when he denied Democratic Senator Raphael Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker a majority of the vote in the race for US Senate in Georgia, forcing a run-off scheduled for later this month. Oliver took roughly 2.1% of the vote or just over 81,000 total votes. Under Georgia state law, a second run-off election will occur between the top two vote-getters if no candidate receives over 50% of the votes.
In a Tweet made earlier today, Oliver expressed his interest in exploring the nomination of the Libertarian Party for the 2024 presidential cycle. He also linked to a brief YouTube video detailing his decision to announce. “The two-party system made coalition building and cooperation dirty words in American politics,” Oliver said. “This doesn’t work for the people of Georgia, and this doesn’t work for this great nation.”
“As 2024 fast approaches and we look at the horizon and see an 80-year-old president and 76-year-old ex-president as likely contenders, it becomes clear that America needs a voice that understands both the reality of modern life and the challenges faced by a new generation,” Oliver continued.
In his announcement video, Oliver named several policy issues he would target. Included in that list is criminal justice reform, ending the war on drugs, stopping 20 years of foreign wars, upholding bodily autonomy, and opposing anti-trans legislation and abortion bans, among others.
As a potential candidate, Chase Oliver has a rich history in the Libertarian Party. Before campaigning as a Senate candidate, Chase worked with the Libertarian Party of Georgia as a member of the Executive Committee. Oliver was also the fundraising director for Outright Libertarians, a 501(c)(4) organization that seeks to bridge the gap between the LGBTQ+ community and the Libertarian Party.
As of now, Oliver’s website offers a landing page with an opportunity for interested volunteers to sign up and help with the campaign. However, outside his YouTube announcement, he has not listed any specific policy issues or positions.
Chase Oliver did well in Georgia and is articulate. This will help make an interesting Libertarian Party Presidential nomination campaign.
Excellent news – I’m in!
That presumes that they will dominate another convention. While that does seem likely, the possibility at least exists that a presidential campaign could recruit enough supporters to take back enough state parties and elect enough delegates to give the next convention a very different flavor from the last one. Probably wishful thinking, as the malignant cancer that has taken over the LP appears to be terminal, but we all know survivors who have beaten the odds before, so maybe the LP could yet beat back the evil disgusting stupidity that has now come to dominate it.
Coming down hard on the culturally progressive side of every intralibertarian debate will get him creamed at a convention dominated by anarcho-paleocons, but some actual debate would be nice, as opposed to Dave Smith simply walking up and accepting the nomination.
Franklin, in case you are not aware of how it works, the LNC is elected at every convention by the delegates and the presidential candidate is picked at every other convention, also by the delegates, not by the LNC. At the presidential conventions, presidential campaigns are the biggest recruiters of delegates. Now that the delegate recruitment process has become competitive with many/most states having more people interested than slots to fill in recent years this also means recruiting more supporters at the state conventions over the year or two leading up to the presidential conventions.
There is nothing whatsoever conflicting about not trusting the current national committee and seeking the presidential nomination. The presidential campaign seeks to present libertarianism and the LP to the public, and campaigns compete on who can do that best and which spin on libertarianism is most effective. Replacing the national committee with one more in tune with the presidential candidate is a secondary goal of many campaigns for the nomination.
Glad to see this. Compromise is essential to effective governing, and the “burn it down” rhetoric that many libertarians prefer won’t win elections. If people want to dismantle the state, or limit it’s overreach however they define it, that will only come through incremental compromise with like-minded folks. Talking about how to get from where we are to where we want to be is essential.
Yeah the guy who said he doesnt endorse the lnc in july is going to seek their trust to run for president. Lol