Libertarian Party presidential candidate Gary Johnson brought his Liberty Tour to the Hippodrome Monday night, whipping his loyal supporters into a frenzy with his message of limited government.
Libertarian Party presidential candidate Gary Johnson brought his Liberty Tour to the Hippodrome Monday night, whipping his loyal supporters into a frenzy with his message of limited government.
The Johnson campaign has gained more traction this election cycle than most third-party bids given the relative un-favorability of both major party candidates. He even picked up the endorsement of the Richmond Times-Dispatch, which had previously endorsed the GOP candidate in every election since 1980. But the former Governor of New Mexico hasn’t polled at the requisite 15% threshold for gaining entry into the presidential debates, something Johnson and his fellow speakers saw as an injustice by the commission that governs the debates.
“It’s not about candidates, it’s about ideas,” Johnson said to a packed room at the Hippodrome Theatre. “These ideas really are going to live on. This is a growing movement and next cycle I think it’s gonna be just a whole cadre of candidates that are gonna step up. I think we’re just gonna be amazed to see what transpires here.”
Johnson and the other speakers hit all the favorite libertarian talking points: low taxes, limited government role in the economy, ending the War on Drugs and liberal positions on social issues like same-sex marriage.
But he also spent time going after the two candidates that did make the debate stage.
“I really think this is gonna be the death of the Republican party. I mean, is Trump toast or what?” Johnson, a former republican himself, asked. “And amazingly, all these revelations of Hillary saying one thing to Wall Street and another thing to Main Street, isn’t that hypocrisy? And that’s the one unforgivable in life is hypocrisy, saying one thing and doing another.”
Most of the crowd was clearly already sold. Johnson and his running mate, former Massachusetts Governor Bill Weld, have built a huge following on the internet and through rallies like the one Monday night.
Megan Bryan, real estate portfolio manager from Richmond, said she likes the libertarian party’s mix of the major parties’ platforms.
“They kind of take the best of both worlds and combines it” Bryan said waiting in line to enter the theatre. “Financially conservative and socially liberal. … I was a democrat when I was in college and then I started paying taxes and that kind of changed my perspective on that.”
Bryan said she’s only moved further into the Libertarian camp this cycle.
“[Clinton and Trump] are both terrible, just fundamentally terrible. Maybe if there was a different person running for the party I could potentially go with one of them but not even close.”
Johnson also talked up his support from millenials, with polls showing him nearly matching the support Donald Trump enjoys from younger voters. And the crowd at the hippodrome had plenty of young faces.
Xavier Barrett, a high school student in Richmond, said he was planning on casting his first ever presidential vote for Johnson.
“He was an amazing governor in New Mexico… he vetoed 750 bills, which is the most vetoes by any governor,” Barrett said. (Editor’s note – Ballotpedia has him vetoing 739) “And what he thinks is, honestly, that it doesn’t matter if you want to smoke pot or if you believe in gay marriage or if you believe in abortion, because there are more important issues for our country.”
As for the Clinton or Trump, both of whom have courted the demographic, “They’re both liars. They both lie to get the popular vote. Gary Johnson doesn’t do that. He sticks by his beliefs.”
Election day happens Nov. 8th.
