In an election cycle full of surprises — and unprecedented dissatisfaction with the major party candidates — voters got a look at a couple of fresh faces Wednesday night in a town hall event live on CNN.
Libertarian presidential nominee Gary Johnson, flanked by his running mate Bill Weld, quickly outlined the issues he had with Donald Trump.
“Starting with immigration, starting with free trade, going on and on and on, killing the families of Muslim terrorists. Really, it’s what’s coming out of his mouth that I really have issues with,” said former New Mexico Gov. Johnson.
When it came to Hillary Clinton attacking Trump’s business record or Trump calling Clinton corrupt, Johnson said he would “leave that to others.”
“I don’t think either of us are going to engage in any sort of name-calling,” Johnson said. “We’re going to keep this to the issues, and the issues are plenty.”
Answering questions from voters of a variety of backgrounds, the Libertarians dove into guns, abortion and immigration.
Guns
Johnson has been a staunch advocate of second amendment rights, but said he was open for a “discussion” around solutions to incidences of gun violence.
Johnson told Jeanette McCoy, a survivor of the Orlando shooting: “We’re not looking to roll back anything” on existing gun regulations, adding that he would look into law enforcement solutions.
“The FBI came in contact with this guy (the Orlando shooter) three times. What transpired? Why wasn’t this guy deprived of his guns?” Johnson asked.
Weld, a former Massachusetts Republican governor, called for “a thousand-person FBI task force treating ISIS as a gigantic organized crime family.”
Abortion
Johnson and Weld also both affirmed their abortion rights positions. Johnson said Republicans “alienate a lot of people” when they attack Planned Parenthood, a women’s health organization that provides abortion procedures.
“We’re not looking to change the law of the land in anyway,” Johnson said.
Immigration
They both had harsh words for Trump on immigration, leveling some of their strongest language against the Republican presumptive nominee.
Johnson, a former border governor, called Trump’s calls for the deportation of all undocumented immigrants and the erection of a border wall “incendiary,” and bordering on “insanity.”
Weld compared Trump’s rise and appeal to the Nazis, repeating a claim he’s previously made.
“The Republican presumptive nominee has succeeded in tapping into the very worst political traditions of the United States and other countries,” Weld said.
He added that images of the Holocaust, including “Anne Frank hiding in the attic” was “directly analogous” to Trump’s deportation policy.
Seeking momentum
The Libertarian Party held what it called its biggest national convention ever on Memorial Day weekend, where the party selected Johnson, the two-term former Republican governor of New Mexico, to represent it on the national stage just as he did in 2012.
This time around, he’s running with Weld, which may help add credibility, attention and fundraising prowess to a perennial long-shot White House effort.
Already, Johnson has shown his candidacy could have potency given voter disappointment in Trump and Clinton. A CNN/ORC poll released Tuesday showed Johnson earning 9% support nationwide and likely Green Party nominee Jill Stein pulling 7% support among registered voters. Among those voters who say they are not settled on a candidate in the two-way race, more than one-third choose Johnson (23%) or Stein (12%) when asked the four-way match up.
Ahead of the town hall event, the Libertarian duo got a boost from former Republican Rep. Ron Paul of Texas. The Libertarian icon told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that although he hadn’t decided who he would vote for, it wouldn’t be Trump or Clinton.
“I think people who say they want significant change, they want to protect individual liberty, are concerned about the Constitution, they should think seriously about voting for a Libertarian principle,” Paul said.
Successful performances at events like CNN’s town hall are crucial as Johnson hopes to bolster his support high enough to get a spot on the general election debate stage — 15% in five polls selected by the Commission on Presidential Debates. And the continued discord inside the major parties could help Johnson and Weld deliver Libertarians their biggest victory ever.
The Libertarian Party has also pledged to get ballot access in all 50 states plus the District of Columbia. If it is successful, the Johnson/Weld ticket will be the only one alongside the Democratic and Republican tickets in front of every voter come Election Day.
Given the general unrest in the 2016 election, a portion of the political class has looked at the possibility of a Libertarian spoiler effect in a way it never has before. Johnson and Weld have pitched themselves as an alternate choice for conservative voters who can’t support Trump and the new home for the Bernie Sanders crowd.
However their effort might not mean much in the grand scheme of things. The party has significant challenges to overcome to make even a small impact in the electoral result. Short of a political miracle, the Libertarian Party will not take the nation’s highest office. But it can make an unprecedented impact this year.
Last cycle, the Libertarian Party had its best turnout ever. More than one million people voted for Johnson, netting only .99% of the vote. He received zero Electoral College votes, just like every third-party bid in the modern era.
But Johnson is hoping to follow in the footsteps of one of the most successful third-party bids in the modern political era.
In 1992, businessman Ross Perot announced his third party bid live on CNN. His candidacy was the beginning of a bold third party movement that shook up an election and helped unseat an incumbent president, netting about 19 percent of the popular vote for his independent presidential bid.
Twenty-four years later, another third party effort is about to try making a nationwide splash.