Omn Sunday, May 29, 2016, The Libertarian Party again nominated former New Mexico Gov. Johnson as its presidential candidate, believing he can challenge presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump and Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton due to their poor showing in popularity polls. Sarwark said the party had established a “back channel” to the Koch brothers, in the hopes the wealthy libertarian-leaning funders donate to the Libertarian Party.
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While he only gained one percent of the vote that year, he became the first Libertarian presidential candidate to receive more than one million votes.
Despite being the favorite, Johnson was only elected on the second ballot and garnered 55.8 percent of the vote. Many of them viewed Weld’s recent addition to the ticket of Johnson with suspicion since he was a state campaign chair for 2012 Republican nominee Mitt Romney’s campaign and endorsed OH governor John Kasich in the Republican primary before Kasich quitted the race earlier this month, said local analysts. Johnson said “it’s not the end of the world” if he doesn’t win the party nod. In polls that pitted Johnson against Trump and Clinton, Johnson got 10 percent from Fox News and 11 percent from a Monmouth poll.
Libertarians are also hopeful the discontent over Trump means they could get some cash from some longtime Republican donors. But that’s not a bad thing for the general election, especially for those Republicans who like their economic conservatism without a side of racism, misogyny, and xenophobia.
“At a minimum, I think we’re in the presidential debates”, Johnson told cheering fans at the Orlando convention, and offered a glimpse of the what a Libertarian presence at the presidential debate might sound like.
In 2012, Johnson only received 1% of the vote, but he might fare better this year with two “unpopular offerings”.
“This is a national ticket”, Weld said after finally securing the nomination by less than one percentage point – and drawing jeers from the crowd.
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“We are sacrificing what we are all about”, said Libertarian Party activist Judd Weiss. He finished second to Democrat Woodrow Wilson, the only time a third party candidate has finished that well.
