One presidential candidate says he thinks values like freedom of religion, protection from mob rule and respect for the family unit would be better represented outside of the two-party system.
Chase Oliver, the Libertarian Party nominee for president in 2024, told the Deseret News that Utahns will find a focus on these issues in his campaign — and says he isn’t afraid of being a “spoiler” in swing states to draw attention to his party.
“That’s the most important thing to build a third party, is to create a place where people feel at home,” Oliver said. “And that’s my goal for the Libertarian Party.”
Oliver has been to all 50 states in his attempt to draw new believers to the Libertarian platform, including Utah, he said, which voted Libertarian at more than twice the national rate in 2020.
Despite rarely topping 1% in the presidential vote, recent history has shown that Libertarians have the numbers to tip tight elections in swing states. And Oliver said if this is what it takes to draw more attention, and acolytes, to the Libertarian cause, then he hopes to spoil the presidential race in every swing state he can.
What is the appeal of the Libertarian Party?
A growing group of Americans — including a uniquely high number of Latter-day Saints — feel alienated from the Republican and Democratic parties. Oliver said he thinks this dissatisfaction comes at least in part because of politicians paying “lip service” to constitutional principles before routinely abandoning them “in favor political expediency.”
“Libertarians are extremely principled in defending your faith and your ability to raise your family as you see fit in your own values,” Oliver said. “We believe in the power of families and parenthood to be one of those most local governments.”
At 39, Oliver believes his relative youth and his working class background give him insight into the policies that will help regular Americans in the long term. Oliver — once labeled “the most influential Libertarian in America” — gained national recognition in 2022 when his bid for U.S. Senate in his home state of Georgia helped force a run-off election between Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock and Republican candidate Herschel Walker.
Oliver believes his success shows that voters “across the Left-Right paradigm” are attracted to a philosophy that prioritizes individual rights and economic prosperity over culture war issues.
But Oliver’s “live and let live” message of limited government intervention — in health care, welfare, immigration and foreign wars — might be just as alienating to voters as the partisan trends he opposes.
Where does Chase Oliver stand on issues?
Since receiving the nomination in May, Oliver has received pushback from some within his own party on his views that appear more progressive. Oliver, who previously worked in the restaurant, logistics and HR industries, first entered politics as an anti-war activist in the 2000s, voting for Barack Obama in 2008 before discovering libertarianism.
Oliver holds consensus Libertarian views on support for the free market — he has proposed the privatization of Social Security — and on isolationism — he has called for an end to intervention in foreign conflicts.
But Oliver has also taken controversial stances on the “culture war” issues dividing Americans — and the Libertarian Party.
Oliver says parents should be allowed to pursue nonsurgical gender-transition treatments for their children. He envisions a “21st century Ellis Island” where migrants can enter the country to work after a background check. He supports the nationwide legalization of abortion, although he opposes public funding for abortions.
However, while Republicans and Democrats expend their political capital attacking each other on these “issues of the day,” Oliver says they are distracting from the one issue that matters most to Americans’ lives.
“The biggest problem facing our country today is the fact that we have a two-party system in power that refuses to address the debt and deficits,” Oliver said. “The real thing we need to be figuring out is how can we stop our government from spending trillions of dollars more each and every year than they take in with revenue because that is the primary driver of inflation. That is what is causing us to feel hurt.”
Despite the annual theatrics of budget bill fights, Democrats continue to introduce new unfunded programs, and Republicans continue to cut taxes without reducing expenditures, Oliver said.
Large scale spending cuts are needed to restore fiscal order, according to Oliver, who has said he would support eliminating entire government agencies, like the Department of Education, and slowly ending all health care subsidies, like Medicaid and Medicare. Community charity, exemplified by church volunteer efforts in Utah, Oliver said, are “actually the best way to help those in need” and will “fill the gaps” in the absence of a welfare state.
Will Chase Oliver spoil the 2024 election?
The Libertarian Party, America’s third largest political party, has historically received less than 1% in presidential elections. Former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson and his running mate, former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld, broke that precedent in 2016, netting 3.3% of the total vote share, or nearly 4.5 million votes.
After the Libertarian Party’s 1.2% showing in 2020, Oliver aims to get 2% of the vote in November, the same percentage he received during his 2022 Senate race, and a U.S. House race in 2020. But Oliver’s broader hope for his campaign is to strengthen the foundations of the Libertarian Party.
Oliver said a strong campaign will help state parties maintain ballot access across the country, could help down ballot Libertarian candidates win in state and municipal elections, and will help spread general awareness of Libertarian ideas “that we can build a strong structure upon.”
And to spread those ideas, Oliver is hoping for as much attention as possible. One of the ways that could happen is by receiving a larger vote share in swing states than the margin of victory for Trump or Harris. Libertarian candidate for president Jo Jorgensen did this in 2020, earning more votes in key states like Arizona, Georgia and Wisconsin than the number of votes dividing Trump and President Joe Biden, leading some to blame her for Biden’s win.
As the only third-party candidate with confirmed ballot access in all seven swing states — Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is still waiting for dozens of states to place him on the ballot — Oliver is counting on scaring both major parties, as he did in Georgia’s 2022 Senate race, to force them to engage with Libertarian policies.
“I hope that there’s as much disruption as possible to draw attention to the fact that we need better ways to vote and we need more voices in the political discourse,” Oliver said. “And if we can cause a disruption loud enough to sound the alarm and to bring new people into the process, I think that’s another version of a victory.”