Gary E. Johnson

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Gary Johnson (2016)

Gary Earl Johnson (born January 1, 1953 in Minot , North Dakota ) is an American building contractor and politician of the Libertarian Party . He was his party's candidate for the 2012 and 2016 presidential election and ran for the United States Senate in 2018 . He previously served as a Republican from 1995 to 2003 Governor of the State of New Mexico .

Political career

Governorship

Gary Johnson entered the running for the Republican Party's candidacy for governorship as a newcomer to politics. He made a name for himself in the primaries, among other things, for his unconventional and rather liberal views on drug policy in the USA. Since, in his opinion, the state drug policy devoured too much money, one must think about a " decriminalization " and regulation of drug use. At that time, his political agenda was already close to the Libertarian Party . His tenure as governor was accordingly shaped by a policy that stands for little state . He used his right of veto in 200 of 424 bills in the first six months in office alone.

In the 2002 elections, he no longer ran for the post due to the law that a governor in New Mexico can only serve two terms. As a result, the Republicans lost the governor's seat to the Democratic Party .

2012 presidential candidacy

On April 21, 2011, Gary Johnson announced his application for the Republican nomination for the 2012 presidential election via Twitter. In the fall of 2011 he was able to take part in the first television debate of the Republican candidates. From the next three debates Johnson was excluded by the hosting television station, whereupon he answered the questions posed there with a video on Youtube. Johnson restricted his election campaign almost exclusively to the state of New Hampshire . Before the start of the primaries , he withdrew on December 28, 2011 from the nomination of the Republican Party and declared that he was running for the nomination of the Libertarian Party.

On May 5, 2012, this party put him up as a presidential candidate. His running mate for the vice presidency was James P. Gray , a former district judge from California .

2016 presidential candidacy

On January 7, 2016, Gary Johnson announced his application for the Libertarian Party. Gary Johnson had to prevail against other candidates like Austin Petersen and John McAfee . On May 18, Johnson announced his running mate , Bill Weld , the former governor of Massachusetts , both of whom had more political leadership experience than most previous small party presidential candidates in the United States. The Libertarian Party reelected him on May 29, 2016 as their candidate in the upcoming 2016 presidential election . He criticized the media for narrowing its coverage to two parties .

Shortly after his candidacy was announced, it was discussed whether he really represents libertarian views because he spoke out in favor of a ban on burqas and Muslim symbols. He then changed his mind and spoke of a misunderstanding.

Johnson competed in all 50 states and achieved values ​​between seven and nine percent in the polls between mid-July and mid-September 2016, which gave the prospect of participating in the television debates of the presidential candidates (15 percent or more), but then lost support. The accusation was made insufficiently aware because, during a conversation in September about the war in Syria , he asked what Aleppo was. In the November 2016 election, with almost 4.5 million votes (3.27 percent), he did not receive any of the electors necessary for the Electoral College , but the best result of a presidential candidate of the Libertarian Party, and significantly increased his result from 2012. In New Mexico he received 9.34 percent of the vote. The two major party candidates, Donald Trump for the Republicans and Hillary Clinton for the Democrats, had historically had poor popularity ratings and had to contend with scandals. The program of fiscal conservatism and socio-political liberalism was seen as attractive to disappointed regular voters of both major parties. After Trump's election, which came as a surprise to many observers, there was speculation as to whether a resignation from Johnson and Green Party candidate Jill Stein would have changed the election result because their combined result in four states was higher than Trump's lead over Clinton.

Senate candidacy 2018

Johnson announced in late August 2018 that he was running for the Libertarian Party in New Mexico as a candidate for the United States Senate . He ran against Democratic nominee Martin Heinrich and Republican Mick Rich in the November 2018 election, and received a statement of support from Republican Senator Rand Paul , who is known for his libertarian positions. After polls showed Heinrich had a clear lead over Rich and Johnson, the New Mexico Republican Party urged Johnson to withdraw from the campaign. This refused on September 24th. Heinrich won the election with 51 percent, Rich with 31 and Johnson with 15 percent.

Political positions

Johnson's political program contains libertarian and classically liberal positions and combines a conservative tax policy and a rejection of state intervention in the economy with a liberal social policy.

Johnson is an abortionist but criticizes the Supreme Court's decision in the Roe v. Wade , since the individual states should decide on this question themselves. He supports a liberal drug policy and rejects restrictions on the right to own weapons .

Johnson also holds out the prospect of a cancellation of income and corporate taxes and wants the IRC , part of the US federal tax law , to be canceled. A nationwide consumer tax is to be levied for this.

Johnson rejects an interventionist foreign policy. In Johnson's view, the United States armed forces should focus on national defense. Military expenditures are to be reduced significantly.

Web links

Commons : Gary E. Johnson  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Peter Eichstaedt: No, No, Two Hundred Times No. In: Questia , July 1, 1995.
  2. ^ Libertarian Gary Johnson launches White House bid. In: The Hill , January 6, 2016.
  3. ^ Steve Peoples: Libertarian Gary Johnson secures running mate. In: Associated Press , May 18, 2016.
  4. ^ Johnson to run as Libertarian candidate. In: BBC News , May 29, 2016.
  5. ^ What Libertarian Gary Johnson believes in 2 minutes. Video. In: CNN.com , August 3, 2016.
  6. ^ Jeb Lund: Presidential Hopeful Gary Johnson is no Libertarian. He's a pro-pot Trump. In: The Guardian , January 7, 2016.
  7. ↑ Nick Gillespie: Gov. Gary Johnson on Burqa Ban: 'My Response Was Wrong'. In: Reason.com , January 7, 2016.
  8. ↑ David Leip: 2016 Presidential General Election Results. In: US Election Atlas , 2016; Christopher J. Devine, Kyle C. Kopko: 5 things you need to know about how third-party candidates did in 2016. In: The Washington Post , November 15, 2016.
  9. ↑ Nathaniel Rakich, Dhrumil Mehta: Could A Libertarian Win A Senate Race This Year? In: FiveThirtyEight , August 24, 2018; Megan Keller: Rand Paul endorses Gary Johnson's Senate bid. In: The Hill , August 28, 2018.
  10. ↑ New Mexico Senate - Rich vs. Heinrich vs. Johnson. In: RealClearPolitics ; Senate Forecast: New Mexico. In: FiveThirtyEight .
  11. ↑ Tris DeRoma: Gary Johnson remains contender for US Senate. In: Los Alamos Monitor , September 24, 2018.
  12. ^ New Mexico US Senate Election Results. In: The New York Times , November 7, 2018.
  13. ↑ Husna Haq: Election 101: Who is Gary Johnson? . In: The Christian Science Monitor , April 21, 2011. Retrieved April 23, 2011. 
  14. ^ What Libertarian Gary Johnson believes in 2 minutes - CNN Video. Retrieved August 3, 2016 .
  15. ^ Brian Doherty: Gary Johnson's Foreign Policy: Libertarian or "Strange"? In: Reason.com , April 11, 2012.
  16. ↑ Jamie Weinstein: Gary Johnson's Strange Foreign Policy. In: The Daily Caller , April 9, 2012.
personal data
SURNAME Johnson, Gary E.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Johnson, Gary Earl (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American builder and Libertarian Party politician
DATE OF BIRTH January 1, 1953
PLACE OF BIRTH Minot , North Dakota