By Noah Dawson

This weekend, the Libertarian Party nominated the ticket of Jo Jorgensen for president and Spike Cohen for vice president. While the Republicans and Democrats take time every four years to put on highly choreographed conventions culminating in the coronation of a presidential ticket, the Libertarians do things a bit differently.

Why the Libertarian Party does things differently:

Perhaps the biggest difference between the Libertarian Party’s convention and the conventions of the Republican and Democratic Parties is that, while the Republicans and Democrats have conventions mainly consisting of pledged delegates, the Libertarian Party does not have any pledged delegates. This means that, while the Republicans and Democrats usually have a clear presumptive nominee going into their conventions, the same cannot be said for the Libertarians. While a few states do have Libertarian Party primaries for president, even the delegates from those states are not bound to the winner. In fact, while early frontrunner Jacob Hornberger won most of the states that did hold primaries, the delegates at the convention eventually chose Jo Jorgensen to be the nominee for president as the result of a fourth round of voting.

While the process can seem convoluted and chaotic, especially to those who are unfamiliar with the typical processes of the Libertarian Party, it’s partly by design. For one reason, since the party does not have the luxury of nationwide tax funded primaries, the decision has to be up to the over 1,000 unpledged delegates. Additionally, the Libertarian Party seems predisposed towards transparency in a way the Republicans and Democrats are not. This offers unique insights into the inner workings of a political party, though it can also put some of the uglier disagreements within factions of the party on public display, making the party seem a bit chaotic to outsiders.

Convention day one:

The convention was originally set to take place over Memorial Day weekend in Austin, but the COVID-19 pandemic forced a change of plans, leading to the online convention. The party still based its timing on central time, as if it were taking place in Austin. Day one of the convention thus convened at 6pm Austin time on Friday evening. The five hour meeting primarily focused on setting the agenda for the next two days. The tone of the convention was largely set on day one, with long stretches of the day being filled with points of order, points of personal privilege, and various other parliamentary inquiries and motions. This in turn lead to sometimes longer stretches of debate about parliamentary procedure and party bylaws.

Convention day two:

Day two of the convention, which ran for nearly 12 hours, began on Saturday at 10am Austin time. It focused on the presidential nomination. A series of votes to set the candidates for nomination began the day, followed by speeches from the campaigns. The candidates on the first ballot were Jo Jorgensen, Jacob Hornberger, Vermin Supreme, John Monds, Jim Gray, and Adam Kokesh. Kokesh, an anti-war activist who had focused his campaign on localization, received the fewest votes, and was thus eliminated for the second round of voting. Kokesh then declined to endorse any of the other candidates, though he signaled that he would support whoever the delegates eventually nominated. After the second round, Jim Grey, a former judge and the 2012 Libertarian Party vice presidential nominee, was eliminated and endorsed Jo Jorgensen in his concession. After the third round, John Monds, who was the Libertarian nominee for the governorship of Georgia in 2010, was eliminated and also endorsed Jo Jorgensen in his concession. In the fourth round, with Jo Jorgensen, Jacob Hornberger, and Vermin Supreme remaining, Jo Jorgensen, a senior psychology lecturer at Clemson and the 1996 Libertarian Party vice presidential nominee, prevailed with 51% of the vote, becoming the nominee. At that point, both Hornberger, founder and president of the Future of Freedom Foundation, and Supreme, a political performance artist, endorsed Jorgensen in their concessions.

Ahead of the rounds of voting, several delegates attempted to move to place various other candidates into consideration, with one of the notable examples being “Great Meteor of Death.” That motion was ruled dilatory and not considered.

Convention day three:

Day three of the convention, which ran for nearly 7 and a half hours, began on Sunday at 10am Austin time. It focused on the vice presidential nomination and whether to adjourn the convention or to adjourn to an in-person convention in Orlando, though it began with an official acceptance speech by Jo Jorgensen.

One of the other major differences between the Libertarian Party and the Republican and Democratic Parties is that the Libertarian Party decides the vice presidential nominee separately from the presidential nominee. Presidential candidates can indicate a preference for who they would like to run on a ticket with, but delegates are free to choose differently. The candidates for vice president were Ken Armstrong, Spike Cohen, Adam Kokesh, and John Monds. Kokesh was eliminated after the first round of voting, and Ken Armstrong, a Coast Guard veteran and nonprofit executive, was eliminated after the second round. After the second round, Kokesh and Armstrong were given the opportunity to give concession speeches. Kokesh did not endorse anybody in his concession, and Armstrong endorsed Cohen, though he did express he would support Monds should he be chosen as the nominee. After the third round, Spike Cohen, a former web design entrepreneur, was nominated with 52% of the vote. Monds, in his concession, endorsed the Jorgensen/Cohen ticket. Interestingly, Cohen had initially been running in the hopes to be on a ticket with Supreme, while Jorgensen had earlier expressed a desire for Monds being her running mate. Cohen and Jorgensen then gave final speeches. Cohen expressed his gratitude and his readiness to begin the general election campaign. Jorgensen expressed her commitment to libertarian principles in contrast to the way the government has handled the COVID-19 pandemic, saying that “people, businesses, and churches should decide themselves the right balance between safety from the virus and the need to keep our economy going. Freedom and individual choice works.”

The meeting then moved to deciding what to do next, with much debate about whether to end the convention or to adjourn to an in person Orlando convention on July 7th. A major point of contention in these discussions was the potential for the current easing of lockdowns to be reversed, potentially forcing such an in-person convention to be cancelled. After a few hours of discussion, it was decided to reconvene in Orlando, where primarily internal party business will be dealt with.