Who is Chase Oliver? Learn more about Georgia Libertarian running for president
The Libertarian Party chose its nominee for president and he's from the Peach State.
Chase Oliver, a former Democrat from Georgia, was selected by the country’s third largest political party in their bid for the White House. He beat out independent Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and former President Donald Trump, who had both vied for the nomination. The nomination came late Sunday after a riotous convention that saw delegates swearing at one another and throwing punches, according to POLITICO. It took days of infighting and seven rounds of voting to nominate Oliver, who garnered more than 60% of the delegates’ votes.
RFK Jr. was knocked out during the first round after receiving 2% of the vote, likely a surprise for the name brand politician who built much of his 2024 campaign with libertarian ideals in mind. Trump didn’t fare much better. He faced a jeering crowd at the convention on Saturday when he made his pitch for their nomination.Oliver emerged unscathed by comparison, urging party members after the vote to “unify and move forward for liberty.”
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Oliver’s political experience
The 38-year-old, who was born in Nashville, Tennessee, has been involved with Georgia politics for several years. On his campaign site, he credits his opposition to the Iraq War with inspiring his political activism. He left the Democratic Party and became a Libertarian in 2010, after feeling disillusioned with former President Barack Obama’s decision to continue the Iraq War.
In 2020, he made an unsuccessful bid for Congress in Georgia’s 5th district to finish the late Sen. John Lewis’ term.
But he is perhaps best known for his 2022 campaign for U.S. Senate. After securing the Libertarian nomination, Oliver ran against incumbent Democrat Raphael Warnock and Republican Herschel Walker in a hotly-contested race.
Oliver received 2% of the vote on election day. Since neither Warnock or Walker secured 50% of the vote, Oliver’s critics accused him of being a spoiler vote and causing the lengthy run-off between the Democrat and Republican. He denied being a spoiler on the Politically Georgia podcast, saying of the two-party system, “You can’t spoil something that’s already rotten.”
Later that month, Rolling Stone magazine would name him “the most influential Libertarian in America.”
Oliver’s platform
In an interview with The Gazette, Oliver described himself as a “pro-gun, pro-police reform, pro-choice Libertarian” who is “armed and gay.”
His campaign lists immigration reform, ending police immunity and the war on drugs, and abolishing the death penalty as top priorities. He also wants to end military support of Israel and Ukraine.
Among his more controversial positions: abolishing the Department of Education.
Oliver said, “At the federal level, the best policy on education is to remove the federal government’s involvement in education. I support abolishing the Department of Education and block granting those funds back to states to be returned to taxpayers.”
His position on abortion echoes that of the official Libertarian Party platform, calling the issue complex and asserting that there can be “good faith positions on both sides of the abortion debate.”
He plans to “work to encourage states to decriminalize abortions, as these decisions should rest in the hands of individuals and their doctors.”
Oliver would nevertheless encourage the passing of the Hyde Amendment, which would prevent any federal dollars going toward abortion clinics and their wide-ranging services. He says he would also encourage states to incentivize adoption by decreasing the overall cost, which he claims can range between $25,000 to $45,000 per state.
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What has Oliver said about Trump and Biden?
Oliver hasn’t been shy about attacking his Republican and Democratic opponents.
In previous interviews, he called Biden and Trump "two 80-year-old decrepit, old-party machine people, who are going to be spouting the same lines and the same mudslinging that they do every four years.”
He got into more specifics during an interview on The Unknowns podcast. Oliver said Trump’s weakest point was that he “initiated the COVID spending, the COVID lockdowns, these kinds of draconian policies that eliminated millions of small businesses in this country that have not come back. And while doing that, blew up the debt and deficit.”He also pointed to Trump’s immigration policy, saying that it “led to the human rights abuses that we're still seeing south of the border.”
Oliver’s criticism of Biden primarily hinged on unfulfilled campaign promises: “It's the fact that he ran against all of these policies of Donald Trump, his protectionist policies, where [Biden has] literally doubled and tripled down... .”
He highlighted Biden’s increase of Chinese tariffs, government spending, and continued use of Trump’s immigration policies through his presidency.
Oliver will be making his longshot bid for the White House alongside his running mate, former Florida police officer Mike ter Maat.