Gary Johnson is ramping up his campaign for President, taking his fight to the general election after (hopefully) securing the Libertarian Party’s nomination at their May national convention.
Johnson’s campaign has announced a news conference that will be held on Wednesday in Santa Fe. The official spokespeople will only publicly say that the former governor of New Mexico will share some “big news” about the future of the campaign at the event.
Speaking off the record with someone close to the campaign we’ve learned that the majority of Johnson’s existing state coordinators will remain in place, although a few who were Republican officials and unwilling to give up their positions have taken a step back. We are also being told that a majority of states already have a functioning campaign coordinator in place, putting the Johnson campaign far ahead of past Libertarian efforts.
Publicly, most Libertarian leaders seem to be welcoming Johnson’s move.
“We have been actively working for months to recruit Gov. Johnson, who has consistently upheld libertarian values,” Florida Libertarian Party chairman Adrian Wyllie tells Uncovered Politics. “We expect that he will announce his campaign to seek the Libertarian Party Presidential nomination in the coming days.”
Others in the more radical wing of the party are less certain, expressing concerns about nominating a big-name candidate who had only recently switched parties. Some point to the 2008 nomination of former Congressman Bob Barr, who failed to gain significant traction for the party and has since largely drifted back towards the GOP.
Johnson’s record of public service is a positive point for the former governor. Unlike Barr, who converted to Libertarianism years after leaving public office, Johnson’s record in office was one of cutting the size of government and vetoing more bills in one year than the other 49 governors combined.
The other major difference between Governor Johnson’s campaign this time and Congressman Barr’s 2008 effort is that Johnson is declaring his intentions well before the national convention and will be actively visiting state Libertarian Party affiliates over the next few months. His main opponent for the LP nomination looks to be Lee Wrights, a longtime party activist.
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