Chase Oliver, an openly gay former supporter of former President Barack Obama, was picked to be the Libertarian Party’s presidential nominee in the upcoming presidential election.
After hours of voting, Oliver, a former Georgia Senate candidate, advanced to the final round with the only other option being, “none of the above.”
Oliver won the final round with roughly 60 percent of the vote, while “none of the above” received around 36 percent of the vote, according to the Hill.
Meryl Kornfield, a staff writer with the Washington Post reported that if Libertarians had chosen “none of the above” it would have led to problems regarding their party being represented and having ballot access.
Oliver was previously the Libertarian Party’s Georgia Senate candidate in 2022, which led to a run-off special election between candidates Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) and Herschel Walker.
The former candidate for Senate has described himself as being “armed and gay,” according to the Guardian.
“Oliver is a champion of the rights of the individual against the growing power of the state,” his website says. “He began his political activism opposing the War in Iraq under George Bush, aligning with the Libertarian Party after an encounter at the Atlanta Pride Festival in 2010.”
Prior to joining the Libertarian Party, Oliver had supported former President Barack Obama and the Democrat Party, according to Newsweek.
Oliver also previously ran for Congress in Georgia’s 5th district and ended up receiving roughly two percent of the vote.
Old posts on X, show that Oliver is also in favor of transgender athletes in sports and open borders, among other issues.
Chase Oliver, 2024 Libertarian presidential candidate, speaks at the Des Moines Register political soapbox during the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines, Iowa, US, on Saturday, Aug. 19, 2023. (Sergio Flores/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Both former President Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican presidential candidate, and independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. were eliminated and did not make it through the voting process.
Trump wrote in a post on Truth Social that he did not “file paperwork for the Libertarian Nomination,” because as the presumptive GOP presidential nominee, he is “not allowed to have the Nomination of another Party.”
“Regardless, I believe I will get a Majority of the Libertarian Votes,” Trump added. “Junior’ Kennedy is a Radical Left Democrat, who’s destroyed everything he’s touched, especially in New York and New England, and in particular, as it related to the Cost and Practicality of Energy. He’s not a Libertarian. Only a FOOL would vote for him!”