They’ve been around for a while and scoring in that percentile range. If anything, I’d say the Libertarian score was low, so some of those voters got the memo and picked a major party candidate.
I was surprised, too. The only electoral vote that a Libertarian candidate has ever won in a presidential election came from Virginia. For an election that all the polls predicted was going to be a blowout for Warner, the Libertarian vote was surprisingly small. (Historically, voters have been more likely to vote for a third party candidate when it isn't likely to make any difference.)
How many Libertarians voted for Gillespie? What was the overall voter turnout, and how many conservatives and conservative-libertarians didn't even bother to vote because of the polls?
The Republican Party should have spent much more money on the race. ("Shoulda coulda woulda")