Jo Jorgensen | |
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 Jorgensen in 2020 | |
| Born | (1957-05-01)May 1, 1957 (age 68) Libertyville, Illinois, U.S. |
| Education | Baylor University (BS) Southern Methodist University (MBA) Clemson University (PhD) |
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| Employer | Clemson University |
| Political party | Libertarian |
| Children | 2 |
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Jo Jorgensen[1][2] (born May 1, 1957)[1] is an Americanlibertarian political activist and academic. Jorgensen was theLibertarian Party's nominee forpresident of the United States in the2020 election, in which she finished third in the popular vote with about 1.9 million votes, 1.2% of the national total. She was previously the party's nominee forvice president in the1996 election, asHarry Browne'srunning mate. She is a full-time lecturer ofpsychology atClemson University.
Jorgensen was born on May 1, 1957, inLibertyville, Illinois,[1] and raised in neighboringGrayslake. She is an alumna ofGrayslake Central High School.[3] Her grandparents wereDanish immigrants.[4]
Jorgensen received a Bachelor of Science degree inpsychology atBaylor University in 1979 and a master's degree inbusiness administration atSouthern Methodist University in 1980. She began her career atIBM working with computer systems, leaving to become part owner and President of Digitech, Inc.[5] She received a Ph.D. inIndustrial and Organizational Psychology fromClemson University in 2002.[6] She has taught full-time at Clemson since 2006.[7][8]
Jorgensen first ran for office in the1992 United States House of Representatives election. She ran as a Libertarian to representSC-04, in northwest South Carolina, against incumbent DemocratLiz J. Patterson and Republican challengerBob Inglis. Jorgensen placed third with 2.2% of the total vote.[9]
Before the 1996 United States presidential election, the Libertarian Party nominated Jorgensen for vice president, asHarry Browne's running mate. She was nominated on the first ballot with 92% of the vote.[10][11] She participated in a vice-presidential debate televised nationwide byC-SPAN on October 22, along withHerbert Titus of the Taxpayers Party andMike Tompkins of the Natural Law Party.[12]
Browne and Jorgensen, who were on the ballot in all 50 states and D.C., received 485,759 votes, finishing in fifth place with 0.5% of the popular vote. This was the Libertarian Party's best performance since1980.[13]
On August 13, 2019, Jorgensen filed with theFEC to run for theLibertarian presidential nomination in the 2020 election.[14] She formally launched her campaign at the November 2, 2019,Libertarian Party of South Carolina convention before participating in the South Carolina Libertarian presidential debate the same day.[15]
In the non-binding Libertarian primaries, Jorgensen was second in the cumulative popular vote, winning two of the 12 primaries.
On May 23, 2020, Jorgensen became the Libertarian presidential nominee, making her the first woman to be the Libertarian nominee and the only female 2020 presidential candidate with ballot access to over 270 electoral votes.Spike Cohen, a mostly unknown figure in mainstream politics, was nominated for vice president.[16][17] The same day, Jorgensen's supporters repurposedHillary Clinton's unofficial 2016 campaign slogan, "I'm With Her". The slogan trended on Twitter that night and made national headlines.[18] She registered minimal support inopinion polling.[19]
Jorgensen released a list of potential Supreme Court nominees in September 2020 in response to the vacancy on the Court created by JusticeRuth Bader Ginsburg's death.[20]
Jorgensen received more than 1.8 million votes in the general election, about 1.2% of the national total.
After the election, several media outlets speculated that Jorgensen's candidacy resulted invote splitting significant enough to be decisive inDemocratJoe Biden's victory overRepublicanDonald Trump, pointing to Jorgensen's vote share being higher than Biden's margin of victory over Trump in multiplebattleground states. While many pundits claimed that Trump would have won had she not run, others believed that many Jorgensen voters would have abstained from voting, as opposed to voting for Trump.[21][22][23][24][25]
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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.[26][27][28] She opposessingle-payer healthcare, calling it "disastrous".[28]
Jorgensen supports replacingSocial Security with individual retirement accounts.[29] 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.[30][31] 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.[32]
Jorgensen opposesfederal civil asset forfeiture andqualified immunity.[33] She opposes thewar on drugs and supportsabolishingdrug laws, promising to pardon all nonviolent drug offenders.[34] She has urged thedemilitarization of police.[35] Additionally, Jorgensen supports theSecond Amendment.[36]
Jorgensen opposes embargoes,economic sanctions, andforeign aid; she supportsnon-interventionism,armed neutrality, and the withdrawal of U.S. troops from abroad.[37][38][33]
Jorgensen calls forderegulation, arguing that it would reduce poverty.[39] She supports cutting government spending to reduce taxes.[40]
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.[41] 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.[42][43][44][45]
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".[27][42][46]
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.[47]
Jorgensen is married and has two adult daughters and a grandson.[48] She briefly paused her presidential campaign after her mother's death on September 3, 2020.[49]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Republican | Bob Inglis | 99,879 | 50.3 | +11.9 | |
| Democratic | Liz J. Patterson (incumbent) | 94,182 | 47.5 | −13.9 | |
| Libertarian | Jo Jorgensen | 4,286 | 2.2 | +2.2 | |
| Majority | 5,697 | 2.8 | −20.2 | ||
| Turnout | 198,410 | ||||
| Republicangain fromDemocratic | |||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Bill Clinton/Al Gore (incumbent) | 47,402,357 | 49.2% | |
| Republican | Bob Dole/Jack Kemp | 39,198,755 | 40.7% | |
| Reform | Ross Perot/Pat Choate | 8,085,402 | 8.4% | |
| Green | Ralph Nader/Multiple People | 685,297 | 0.7% | |
| Libertarian | Harry Browne/Jo Jorgensen | 485,798 | 0.5% | |
| Constitution | Howard Phillips/Herbert Titus | 184,820 | 0.2% | |
| Natural Law | John Hagelin/Michael Tompkins | 113,670 | 0.1% | |
| None | Others | 121,534 | 0.1% | |
| Presidential candidate Vice presidential candidate | Party | Popular votes | % | Electoral votes | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Joe Biden Kamala Harris | Democratic | 81,268,924 | 51.3% | 306 | |
| Donald Trump(incumbent) Mike Pence | Republican | 74,216,154 | 46.9% | 232 | |
| Jo Jorgensen Spike Cohen | Libertarian | 1,865,724 | 1.2% | 0 | |
| Howie Hawkins Angela Walker | Green | 405,035 | 0.3% | 0 | |
| Others | 627,566 | 0.4% | 0 | ||
| Total | 158,383,403 | 100% | 538 | ||
Wikinews interviews Jo Jorgensen, U.S. Libertarian Party presidential nominee atWikinews| Party political offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Libertariannominee forVice President of the United States 1996 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Libertariannominee forPresident of the United States 2020 | Succeeded by |
