The Liberal Party has chosen 38-year-old Chase Oliver as its 2024 presidential candidate.
Oliver, an openly gay former Democrat who supported Barack Obama, used his victory speech to denounce the U.S. “war machine” and demand an end to the “Gaza genocide,” according to the Washington Examiner.
Writer Michael Rectenwald was eliminated from Sunday night’s vote, which came down to a vote between Oliver and “None of the Above,” who ended up with around 60 percent support win. He announced economist Mike ter Maat as his running mate.
Delegates elected Chase Oliver as the Libertarian Party’s presidential candidate. pic.twitter.com/M8c5IhKWez
— Liberal Party (@LPNational) May 27, 2024
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Oliver, who aligned himself with the Classical Liberal caucus, the more traditional wing of the Liberal party, secured the nomination after nearly eight hours and seven rounds of voting. He defeated the more hardline Mises caucus candidate by less than 1% in the penultimate round of voting, after which delegates were asked to choose between Oliver and no candidate.
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Oliver said he got into politics as an anti-war protester in the early 2000s and planned to target young voters angry about Israel’s war with Hamas on college campuses, Twitch and TikTok.
“We’re looking at who are the groups most likely to be ready to break away from the two-party system, and we’ve identified young people, particularly those who are dissatisfied with the war going on in Gaza, the immigration crisis, and are upset about the cost of living,” said Oliver. “These are the young people we’re targeting.”
Independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was also on the ballot, although he was eliminated on the first ballot.
If Oliver is not elected, the party will struggle to find a candidate in November’s presidential election.
Oliver, a former sales and human resources executive, had been a relative unknown until his failed bid for Georgia’s U.S. Senate in 2022, when he won just 2% of the vote.
According to his website, Oliver’s policies include open borders, promoting gun rights, drug decriminalization, low taxes and opposing U.S. involvement in foreign wars.
