 General election logo Primary campaign logo | |
| Campaign | 2020 Libertarian primaries 2020 U.S. presidential election |
|---|---|
| Candidate | Jo Jorgensen Senior lecturer atClemson University Spike Cohen Podcaster and businessman |
| Affiliation | Libertarian Party |
| Status |
|
| Headquarters | Greenville, South Carolina[1] |
| Key people | Steve Dasbach (campaign manager) |
| Receipts | US$3,405,357[2] (November 23, 2020) |
| Slogan(s) | Real Change for Real People[3] She's With Us![4] Let Her Speak[5] I'm With Her[6] Break Free From Big Government[7] |
| Website | |
| www | |
The 2020 presidential campaign ofJo Jorgensen was formally launched on November 2, 2019, at theSouth Carolina Libertarian Party convention.[8] Jorgensen had previously been theLibertarian Party's vice presidential nominee in1996, when she ran on a ticket with authorHarry Browne.[9] Currently a senior lecturer ofpsychology atClemson University,[10] Jorgensen had owned asoftware company at the time of her 1996 vice presidential candidacy.[9]
Jorgensen's positions are typically described as being consistent with the Libertarian Party's platform.[11][12][13] Her campaign has received less media coverage than those ofGary Johnson, formerRepublican governor ofNew Mexico and Jorgensen's predecessor as the Libertarian Party's presidential nominee in2012 and2016. Her name recognition upon entering the race is also widely considered to have been lower than Johnson's.[12][13][14][15][16][17] Although Jorgensen is often described as appealing to the Libertarian Party's base, some in the party, such as her main primary opponent Future of Freedom Foundation founderJacob Hornberger, have criticized her for perceived departures fromlibertarian ideology in exchange for mainstream appeal.[18]
The Libertarian Party experienced acompetitive primary.[19] On May 23, at the virtual2020 Libertarian National Convention, Jorgensen was selected as the party's 2020 presidential nominee after four rounds of voting by delegates.[20] She is the party's first female presidential nominee.[15] PodcasterSpike Cohen—Vermin Supreme's original running mate—was selected to be Jorgensen's running mate the next day, despite Jorgensen having expressed a preference for fellow presidential candidateJohn Monds.[21][22]
In 1996, Jorgensen was nominated by the Libertarian Party as its candidate for vice president in the1996 election. The party's presidential nominee wasfree market writer and investment analystHarry Browne.[23] The Browne/Jorgensen ticket received 485,798 votes (0.5% of the popular vote) in the general election, which was won byincumbent presidentBill Clinton.[24][25] Jorgensen had previously run for South Carolina's 4th congressional district in 1992, receiving 4,286 votes (2.2% of the popular vote).[26]
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Jorgensen supports afree-market healthcare system financed by individual spending accounts that could keep any savings, which she believes would increase healthcare providers' incentive to compete by meeting consumer demand for low-cost services.[27][28][29] She opposessingle-payer healthcare, calling it "disastrous".[29]
Jorgensen supports replacingSocial Security with individual retirement accounts.[30] In the final debate of the 2020 primaries, candidateJacob Hornberger accused Jorgensen of "support[ing] thewelfare state throughSocial Security andMedicare". In response, she called Social Security a "Ponzi scheme". She then expressed the desire to allow people to opt out of the program on her first day in office, while emphasizing theconstitutional inability of a president to unilaterally end the program withoutCongress's support, as well as the need for the government to fulfill existing Social Security obligations.[31][32] Under Jorgensen's plan, those who opt out would put 6.2% of theirpayroll taxes in individual retirement accounts and receive prorated Social Security benefits for existing contributions aszero-coupon bonds for retirement.[33]
Jorgensen opposesfederal civil asset forfeiture andqualified immunity.[34] She opposes thewar on drugs and supportsabolishingdrug laws, promising to pardon all nonviolent drug offenders.[35] She has urged thedemilitarization of police.[36] Additionally, Jorgensen supports theSecond Amendment.[37]
Jorgensen opposes embargoes,economic sanctions, andforeign aid; she supportsnon-interventionism,armed neutrality, and the withdrawal of U.S. troops from abroad.[38][39][34]
Jorgensen calls forderegulation, arguing that it would reduce poverty.[40] She supports cutting government spending to reduce taxes.[41]
Jorgensen supports the freedom of American citizens to travel and trade, calls for the elimination oftrade barriers and tariffs, and supports the repeal of quotas on the number of people who can legally enter the United States to work, visit, or reside.[42] In a Libertarian presidential primary debate, Jorgensen said she would immediately stop construction on PresidentDonald Trump'sborder wall. During another primary debate she blamed anti-immigration sentiment on disproportionate media coverage of crimes by immigrants. She argued that immigration helps the economy and that the blending of cultures is beneficial.[43][44][45][46]
Jorgensen has characterized the U.S. government's response to theCOVID-19 pandemic as overlybureaucratic andauthoritarian, calling restrictions on individual behavior (such asstay-at-home orders) and corporatebailouts "the biggest assault on our liberties in our lifetime".[28][43][47]
Jorgensen opposes governmentmask mandates, considering mask-wearing a matter of personal choice. She argues that mask-wearing would be widely adopted without government intervention becausemarket competition would drive businesses to adopt either mask-required or mask-optional policies, allowing consumers thefreedom to choose their preferred environment. Jorgensen has invoked the analogy ofdollar voting to argue that consumer preferences would shape businesses' policies on face masks in the absence of a government mandate.[48]
In the Libertarian primaries, Jorgensen placed second in terms of overall votes cast, behind Future of Freedom Foundation founder Jacob Hornberger. Jorgensen won a single primary prior to the convention, inNebraska, on May 12, 2020.[49] After Justin Amash entered and then exited the race Jacob Hornberger lost a significant number of votes and on the fourth round of balloting Jorgensen was nominated. She did not endorse anybody to be her running mate and after three ballots Spike Cohen was nominated. After her nomination, she went on to win theNew Mexico primary on June 2, 2020, which had been postponed due to theCOVID-19 pandemic.[50][51]
Jorgensen achieved ballot access in all 50 states and the District of Columbia on September 15, 2020.[52]
After thefirst presidential debate betweenDonald Trump andJoe Biden, Jorgensen's website crashed due to high volume of traffic.[53]
Jorgensen raised $3,442,156 on her presidential campaign, loaning $9,784 of her own money to her campaign and raising $3,415,793 from individual contributions. She spent $3,420,928 and has $106,132 in outstanding debts with $21,228 of ending cash in hand.[54]
| Candidate | Campaign committee | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Raised | Total loans | Ind. contrib. | Item. Ind. contrib. | Unitem. Ind. contrib. | Spent | |||
| Jo Jorgensen | $3,442,156 | $9,784 | $3,415,793 | $1,113,598 | $2,302,196 | $3,420,928 | ||
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Jo Jorgensen received 1,865,535 total votes and 1.2% of the national vote, coming third in the nation. She achieved the Libertarian Party's second strongest historical result to date behind Gary Johnson's 2016 presidential campaign. The highest percentage of votes received by Jorgensen was in South Dakota, where she received 2.63% or 11,095 votes.
Jorgensen has received endorsements fromKennedy,Peter Schiff,John Stossel, andKatherine Timpf, among others. She has also received endorsements from many former Libertarian candidates in the 2020 race, including Jacob Hornberger,Justin Amash,Adam Kokesh andVermin Supreme.[citation needed] In addition, she received an endorsement from2012 and2016 Libertarian nomineeGary Johnson.
