Libertarian Gary Johnson Announces He Is Running For President In 2016, Republicans Don’t Like It [Video]

Libertarian Gary Johnson has publicly announced that he is running for president in the 2016 election. As Johnson was being interviewed last week on Fox Business by Neil Cavuto, be dropped the news that he was seeking the Libertarian nomination to run for presidency in 2016. He then took the opportunity to educate Cavuto on the nomination process of the Libertarian party along with some of the differences between himself and the two other major party candidates.

The former governor of New Mexico, Gary Johnson has announced that he will be throwing his name into the hat for the presidential election in 2016. However, it seems that at least some Republicans are not on board with the idea, as Cavuto says the Libertarian would likely take votes away from the Republican candidate. In the interview on Fox Business, Johnson announced his presidency and explained to Cavuto how the Libertarian nomination takes place.

As Johnson points out, during a convention that will take place over Memorial Day, the Libertarian party will decide who their candidate will be for the 2016 race. This is not Gary Johnson’s first presidential race. In fact, the Libertarian candidate also ran in 2012 garnering the most support among third-party candidates. However, the loss in 2012 doesn’t seem to be deterring Johnson who uses his candidacy to advocate for the Libertarian movement.

During his interview, Johnson said that for the first time, it appears that the Libertarian Party will be on the ballot in all 50 states. He also noted that the Libertarian Party has sued the Presidential Debate Commission claiming that if you are on the ballot in enough states to mathematically win the presidency, that you should be included in the presidential debate. This would be huge news for the Libertarian Party which has been trying to gain access to the coveted debate. Johnson admits it is a long-shot but is hopeful that Libertarians will be included in the debate to change the rhetoric in the country.

However, Cavuto didn’t seem too interested in discussing Johnson as president but did want to know if the candidate thought he would take votes away from the Republican party. In fact, Cavuto says the “best” Johnson could hope for was to be included and take away numbers from another candidate seemingly dismissing the possibility of a Libertarian winning a presidential election.

“The best you can hope for is maybe get included, but affect the final outcome and hurt one of the two major party candidates. The consensus seems to be in your case that you would hurt the Republican nominee.”

Johnson puts that rumor to rest noting that it is “not the case at all” and that many people “hold on” to that conventional belief. He says that when it comes to Libertarians, they draw as many votes from Democrats as they do Republicans as they are fiscally conservative, but socially liberal.

Gary Johnson also wrote a statement following Obama’s State of the Union address noting that he had a real problem with the president saying improvements in the economy were from things the government had done.

“In 2012, some national publications compared the ‘job creation’ records of several former governors who were running for President, and my record in New Mexico was deemed to be the best. My response raised some eyebrows: I said, ‘As Governor, I didn’t create a single job.’ It’s true. Government doesn’t create jobs. The private sector does, and government’s job is to stay out of the way and create an environment in which entrepreneurs and other employers can prosper without unnecessary regulation, taxes and interference. That’s what we tried to do in New Mexico…and it worked.”

What do you think about Libertarian Gary Johnson announcing his candidacy for president in 2016? Do you think the Libertarian Party should be included in the national debates? What about Cavuto’s assumption that the Libertarian candidate will only take votes away from Republicans? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.

[Photo by Jim Mone/AP Photo]