(The Center Square) — Last year, Libertarian Chase Oliver forced Georgia’s U.S. Senate race — in which Raphael Warnock defeated Herschel Walker — into a runoff.
Now, Oliver, a 37-year-old Atlanta resident vying for the Libertarian presidential nomination, sees the political landscape — one in which many voters don’t want to see a rematch between Donald Trump and Joe Biden — aligning perfectly for his party.
“We want to make sure that we are providing a really good contrast,” Oliver told The Center Square. “And I think the fact that I am half the age of my Republican and Democratic opponents — or likely Republican and Democratic opponents, rather — I think that provides a great contrast, and I’m trying to speak to the next generation.”
Why is 2024 the year for the Libertarian Party?
“Because this is going to be likely a Biden versus Trump 2.0 election, it presents a very unique opportunity for the Libertarians to break out. Because more and more voters are dissatisfied with both of those choices — and they’re going to start looking elsewhere. And so, we have a unique opportunity to present ourselves in a way that’s professional, in a way that attracts new voters to the party and to the movement and can really break through. Similar to Ross Perot 1992, both the Republican and the Democrat were both broadly not as popular as past candidates at them, and so, there was room for Ross Perot to be able to get 19% of the popular vote. I think there’s going to be a similar political condition for the Libertarians in 2024 — and maybe even more so.”
You’ve advocated eliminating the U.S. Department of Education. How likely is that to happen?
“Post-COVID, so many parents have seen how broken the public education system is, and we need to have more marketplace competition. They got to see how bad it was watching their kids try to do public education via Zoom in the wake of the pandemic. And the silver lining of that is many parents have looked for alternatives to the traditional public school education. And we need to be supporting those parents and those students who are looking for alternatives to a failed public school model. And so, the easiest way for us to do that at the federal level is to end the Department of Education, block grant that money back to the states and then start advocating for more choice in the education marketplace on a state-by-state basis, which is what you’re seeing all across the country.”
Why is 2024 the year for the Libertarian Party?
“Because this is going to be likely a Biden versus Trump 2.0 election, it presents a very unique opportunity for the Libertarians to break out. Because more and more voters are dissatisfied with both of those choices — and they’re going to start looking elsewhere. And so, we have a unique opportunity to present ourselves in a way that’s professional, in a way that attracts new voters to the party and to the movement and can really break through. Similar to Ross Perot 1992, both the Republican and the Democrat were both broadly not as popular as past candidates at them, and so, there was room for Ross Perot to be able to get 19% of the popular vote. I think there’s going to be a similar political condition for the Libertarians in 2024 — and maybe even more so.”
You’ve advocated eliminating the U.S. Department of Education. How likely is that to happen?
“Post-COVID, so many parents have seen how broken the public education system is, and we need to have more marketplace competition. They got to see how bad it was watching their kids try to do public education via Zoom in the wake of the pandemic. And the silver lining of that is many parents have looked for alternatives to the traditional public school education. And we need to be supporting those parents and those students who are looking for alternatives to a failed public school model. And so, the easiest way for us to do that at the federal level is to end the Department of Education, block grant that money back to the states and then start advocating for more choice in the education marketplace on a state-by-state basis, which is what you’re seeing all across the country.”
By T.A. DeFeo | The Center Square contributor
