ATLANTA — There's speculation about who has their eyes set on the White House and it appears a top Georgia Libertarian is also considering a 2024 run.
Chase Oliver, who ran as his party's candidate in Georgia's U.S. Senate race, announced Friday he is launching a presidential exploratory committee. The move is often the first step for a candidate to test the waters before committing to a campaign.
Oliver, who pulled more than 81,000 votes during the midterm election has been credited for triggering Georgia's Senate runoff election. After garnering roughly 2% of the vote, Oliver forced Herschel Walker and incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock into a runoff as neither candidate garnered the required 50% plus 1 vote needed to avoid a rematch. Now the candidates have to convince the 81,000 to come out to vote again -- and not for their initial preferred candidate.
A proud disruptor of the nation's two-party system, Oliver hasn't endorsed either candidate still vying for the Senate seat. He ran on a platform that emphasized immigration and criminal justice reforms and said despite his loss, the results were promising.
After recently being called the most influential libertarian in the U.S. this year in a Rolling Stone article, he's toying with the idea of giving voters a third option in the next presidential race.
"That says to me that we need to open up our democracy to more choices and more voices, so we have a more representative United States Senate and democracy overall," he previously said in an interview with 11Alive after the November general election.
Oliver credits his Senate run for some of his notoriety. He framed the results as a sign that the Libertarian Party has the potential to further grow as a force -- and said that will become more evident after the runoff election.
“On Tuesday, Georgia voters will cast votes in a runoff election for the U.S. Senate,” Oliver said in a news release. “Millions more will see no one worthy of their vote, and will choose to stay home.”
He's hoping it's a wake-up call on who should sit in the Oval Office.
Oliver sees a field that could come down to President Joe Biden, 80, vs.
former President Donald Trump, 76, according to a news release.
“America needs a choice who understands both the realities of modern
life and the challenges faced by a new generation; who is both dynamic
enough to adapt to new conditions and energetic enough to bring
innovative change to old institutions,” Oliver said in a prepared statement. “I was born in 1985. It is past time for the generations with the most to lose from bad policies to have a chance to shape better ones.”
Delegates will choose the Libertarian presidential candidate at the
party’s national convention in May 2024 in Washington D.C.
To learn more about his background and lead issues from his race for Georgia’s U.S. Senate seat, go to chaseforgeorgia.com.