In an interview conducted earlier this week IPR learned that the Constitution, Green, and Libertarian Party candidates for POTUS have accepted an invitation, and are scheduled to debate, in Las Vegas, Nevada on Friday, 12 July 2024. Invitations have also been extended to Dr. West, RFK, Jr; and Presidents Biden and Trump. The debate is organized by the Free and Equal Elections Foundation, and will be conducted on the main state of this year’s FreedomFest.
IPR has received media credentials from the organizers of FreedomFest and plans to cover the debate, as well as other independent-political-party-related presentations, in-person.
The Constitution Party and the Free and Equal Elections Foundation have also confirmed the debate in Media Releases received by IPR earlier today (see links below).
A partial transcript of the full interview with Valerie Durham of FreedomFest follows:
IPR: What non-Republican-non-Democratic Party candidates will be presenting on stage at FreedomFest?
DURHAM: We are teaming up with the Free and Equal Elections Foundation, Christina Tobin’s organization, to host a full ALL-presidential candidate debate on the Freedom Fest stage! We are very interested in bringing together different perspectives and letting people have a real conversation, debate, and discourse around the philosophy of governance and approach to liberty.
Who is speaking for the independent voter?
Certainly the Democrats, Republicans, and the Presidential Debate Commission are not interested in the independent voter.
So we were thinking how can we, in a legitimate, substantial way show that there are alternatives to the Blue-Red dynamic? People have bought into the, “You need to vote for the lesser of two evils” – but that’s why we’re trillions of dollars in debt, and are losing our freedoms.
So Friday night, July 12th, we are hosting a Free and Equal Presidential debate – 5:00pm to 7:00pm Pacific time. We have confirmed Randall Terry of the Constitution Party, Jill Stein of the Green Party, and Chase Oliver of the Libertarian Party. We are actively in negotiations with the RFK campaign, we’re reaching out to Cornel West, as well as (Presidents) Trump and Biden.
Christina Tobin, Congressman Thomas Massie, and possibly one other person will be co-moderators.
IPR: What about Joel Skousen?
DURHAM: He will be speaking at Freedom Fest as well, but because he’s only on the ballot in Utah and Nevada, he doesn’t reach the criteria for the actual debate the way (the other Constitution Party candidate) Randall Terry does.
IPR: Aside from the candidates, will other officials from the Constitution, Green, Libertarian, or RFK’s campaign be there?
DURHAM: We are talking to the RFK campaign. Angela McArdle (chair of the Libertarian Party) is speaking. We’re reaching out to other political parties and organizations as well (NOTE: IPR will provide updates as they are announced). We want people to be able to have real dialogue. There is the assumption that (for example) “This person is liberal progressive, therefore, I don’t agree with them”. Well, that’s actually not true. There are a lot of things where we have agreement, and can find good governance. That dialogue is where we end up working together to get to better outcomes for the American voter.
Some of these third parties and independent candidates will have their campaigns and parties represented in our exhibit hall. We are constantly encouraging people with an alternative viewpoint on how we can get to greater freedom to come to FreedomFest to talk about their initiatives, ideas, goals, and projects.
IPR: Donald Trump came to FreedomFest early in his first campaign – when almost no one believed he could win the presidency.
DURHAM: That was my first year running FreedomFest. In 2015 his campaign reached out to us about a week out. We don’t even know how he found out about FreedomFest. But he had just launched his campaign, not even three weeks earlier. He had the grand escalator announcement and then, maybe two days before, said the famous murderers, rapists, some of them are good people, statement about immigration.
We accepted him because FreedomFest not only talks about political philosophy, but we also are very strong in free market economics and business, entrepreneurship. So as a businessman, we thought, he’s run Celebrity Apprentice, he’s an interesting speaker. We definitely did not think that it would turn into what it turned into.
That’s why we focus on the presidential debate – to feature in equal status these third party and independent candidates, because they don’t have enough voice. They don’t get the airtime. They don’t get articles written about them. It’s a real shame because they have something to offer. Even if you decide you disagree with it, having that kind of interesting, more complex, and more nuanced political conversation is what gets us away from the rancor, divisiveness, and name calling – the vitriol that is neither beneficial nor helpful.
I hope that, Mr. Kennedy, Mr. Trump, Mr. Biden, Dr. West, each accept our invitation to show the American people, and the American voter, what’s out there. I think that’s super valuable. As of now, for the presidential debate, it’s Chase (Oliver), Jill (Stein) and Randall (Terry); I also think there is a very good chance we will also have Robert Kennedy, Jr. We address political issues and philosophy. I think your readers are clearly people who think outside the box and are willing to engage with things at a very deep intellectual level. FreedomFest really addresses the 360 experience of liberty.
There will be riveting sessions bringing together so many viewpoints in economics, finance, social issues – like drug legalization and sex work – education reform, entrepreneurship, and 2A issues, you know, criminal justice reform.
We also have a good time with karaoke, jam sessions, a film festival, and a comedy show with Rob Schneider. There’s so much networking and you get to interact with so many different people. So there are a lot of independent thinkers across the board that come to FreedomFest.
IPR: Any candidates for office other than the presidency?
DURHAM: Justin Amash. Justin’s coming this year. There may be others; we are still adding to the speaker list.
NOTE: A full list of this year’s FreedomFest speakers (so far) may be found at:
IPR readers are invited by the organizers to use the code “IPR50” to receive a $50 discount when registering to attend FreedomFest:
https://freedomfest.swoogo.com/vegas2024
The Free and Equal Elections Foundation will livestream the FreedomFest POTUS debate at:
The Constitution Party’s Media Release received by IPR earlier today reads:
Constitution Party Presidential Nominee Randall Terry Takes the National Debate Stage
Free and Open Elections will conduct a National debate at FreedomFest in Las Vegas on July 12, 2024. Click here for details: https://www.freedomfest.com/
So far, 7 candidates have been invited. Randall Terry, Constitution Party presidential candidate and founder of the pro-life group, Operation Rescue, has confirmed his participation along with Chase Oliver, the Libertarian candidate, and Jill Stein, Green Party candidate. Independent, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., has also been invited to this national debate.
Congressman Thomas Massie (R-KY) will be the moderator.
The Free and Equal Elections Foundation Media Release is available at:
Past IPR coverage of this year’s FreedomFest includes:
According to the Free & Equal foundation broadcasting the debate will be Rumble, C-SPAN, Scripps News, The Epoch Times, Free Speech TV, Pacifica Network, and Free & Equal Network.
Having watched some of the previous Free & Equal debates today and looking at the Freedom Fest’s schedule, this is going to be an even bigger and more expensive train-wreck than the LNC was. They’re wasting the handful of worthwhile speakers by either making them talk about inane bovine excreta or putting them on stage together with completely insane morons, oftentimes both. It’s gonna be awesome – in the classical sense – like witnessing a nuclear disaster! ?
I’ll add this to my third-party and independent candidate news roundup https://socraticgadfly.blogspot.com/2024/06/third-party-and-independent-candidate.html
Thanks for the article. Good to learn about the film festivals in your bio. When I have the LIO sites back up, let’s get a little article on your good work.
This is a good move, especially with Milei stopping by.
–MG
Important international speakers not mentioned in this article/interview include Javier Milei and Vit Jedlicka. You had my curiosity, but now you have my attention.