Meet Georgia’s Chase Oliver, the Libertarian presidential nominee

ATLANTA, Ga. - Libertarian presidential candidate Chase Oliver is calling for voters to give him a chance in the upcoming race for the White House.

Oliver, an activist from Georgia, was named the Libertarian candidate for president over the weekend after an hours-long bidding process in Washington, D.C.

He beat Donald Trump and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for the nomination.

“I hope voters can give me an honest view. Kick the tires, compare me to the other candidates. I’m half the age of most of my opponents,” said Oliver.

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Trump appeared Saturday night in Washington at the convention to give a speech that was repeatedly booed by many in the room. It did not pay off with the endorsement he requested, though his Republican allies on Sunday praised him for choosing to go before an unfriendly crowd.

Kennedy got a friendlier reception when he spoke on Friday and attacked both Trump and Biden for how they addressed the COVID-19 pandemic. He had talked up his support for the Libertarians and an endorsement could have helped him expedite the process of gaining ballot access in all 50 states, perhaps the biggest hurdle he faces in qualifying for the first presidential debate in June hosted by CNN.

Libertarians prioritize small government and individual freedoms, with a mix of policy positions that could be seen as liberal, conservative or neither.

Oliver is an activist from Atlanta who previously ran for the U.S. Senate and U.S. House from Georgia. His campaign website calls for major cuts to the federal budget with an eye toward balancing the budget, the abolition of the death penalty, and the closure of all overseas military bases and ending of military support to Israel and Ukraine.

“Me and my team are so excited we won the nomination and now we can move right forward to the general election,” Oliver said. “Getting across the country and reaching out to all 50 states, something no libertarian candidate had ever done before. I think that put confidence for our supporters that ‘Man, Chase is going to run really hard in the general election.’”

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Oliver said he’s already qualified to be listed on the November ballot in 37 states, including Georgia.

“Georgia is very important to me. This is my home state. This is where my values reside. This is where I’ve been raised and this is the spirit of love and diversity that Atlanta has provided,” said Oliver.

Historically, third-party candidates are rarely competitive in the presidential election.

Four years ago, the libertarian candidate, Jo Jorgensen, earned roughly 1% of the national vote, including 1.2% of the vote in Georgia.

“I don’t expect the Libertarian candidate is going to be a big player in this election. I expect that other third-party candidates will get more attention and will probably get more votes than Chase Oliver will,” said Andra Gillespie, political science professor at Emory University.

Gillespie projected that Kennedy and Cornel West would likely secure more votes.

In 2022, Oliver earned 2.1% of the vote in the race for U.S. Senate.

His presence, though, helped lead to a run-off between Rev. Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker, a race Warnock inevitably won.

Gillespie doubted if Oliver would be able to garner enough support to impact the 2024 presidential race in the same way.

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“I do not think Chase Oliver has that type of leverage,” said Gillespie. “I find it really hard to believe that Chase Oliver could garner enough points, or enough votes in any state that we would be looking at the margin of victory and saying it was those Libertarian voters.”

Oliver said his goals go beyond challenging in the presidential race, but instead to expand the bandwidth of the Libertarian party.

“This is not a one-and-done election. This is about building ourselves up so we can tear the abuses of the government down,” said Oliver.