Clemson University Psychology Lecturer Jo Jergenson has won the Libertarian nomination for President on the 4th ballot of their virtual convention, beating Jacob Hornberger (whom I thought would win) and Vermin Supreme. She seems to have won by being the near universal 2nd choice of the 4th, 5th, and 6th place finishers who were eliminated 1 by 1.
So sad we didn’t get to see any crazy speeches.
Jergenson seems to be a run of the mill not too fruity but all about “the party platform” ideologue. She’s for open borders. She was the running mate of Harry Browne in 1996 but is their most obscure nominee since Mike Badnarik (0.32% nationally though the much more prominent Bob Barr only got .4% in 2008) in 2004.
For VP they went with “anarchist” Spike Cohen (still an improvement on Bill Weld) in an upset in third ballot over someone more normal.
There is some question that the party by-laws precluded a virtual convention and that this could cost them ballot access in some states but I doubt it. A bigger concern for ballot access is failure to gather signatures due to Wuhan virus.
This ticket will likely get less than 1%. She’ll campaign against the lockdowns so the President must remain firm as that is the only way he could lose votes to her. She shouldn’t much appeal to Never Trump Biden-flirters either.
I wonder if my Gary Johnson voting aunt will vote for her. My (blood) uncle (her husband) voted Johnson in 2012 but went Trump in 2016.
As you noted, Boob Barf (oops, I mean Bob Barr) was much more well known as a former Congressman, but did scarsely better than Badnarik.... AND Barf had the fortune of running against the unlikable backstabber John McCain. I attribute his poor performance to Barf renouncing everything people LIKED about him when he was a Congressman. Literally the ONLY thing Congressman Barr and Libertarian Nominee Barf had in common is they were both strongly pro-gun rights.
And of course, almost immediately after the election, Barf and his "Libertarian" running mate Wayne Allyn Root came crawling back to the GOP. So much for that "I'm so proud to be a Libertarian" stuff they spouted at the 2008 party convention.
Same thing in 2012 and 2016, when they nominated former GOP Governor Gary Johnson. His "Libertarian" running mate, RINO big government governor Bill Weld, is now back in the GOP fold. I don't think Johnson has ruled out running again as a Republican, either.
In any case, Jacob Hornberger won considerably more votes than Jo Jorgensen did in the 2020 LP primaries (she won ONE out of the 11 state primaries) for President. Guess the LP party elites figure they know better than the rank and file members who is the best nominee for the party (but they will gladly diss the GOP and Dems party elites for doing the same)
I have no objection to her though, looks like the LP is going back to basics. I never liked Harry Browne either, but at least he seemed sincere about what he actually believed in, unlike Boob Barf and RINO Weld.