2020 Libertarian National Convention

Delegates to the 2020 Libertarian National Convention selected the Libertarian Party nominees for president and vice president in the 2020 United States presidential election. Primaries were held, but were preferential in nature and did not determine delegate allocation. The convention was originally scheduled to be held from May 21 to May 25 at the JW Marriott Austin luxury hotel in downtown Austin, Texas.[3][4] On April 26, all reservations at the JW Marriott Austin were canceled in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving the convention oversight committee to seek another venue for a possible July date.[5]

2020 Libertarian National Convention
2020 presidential election
Nominees
Jorgensen and Cohen
Convention
Date(s)May 22–24 and
July 7–12, 2020
CityNone (May)
Orlando, FL (July)
VenueOnline (May)
OCCC (July)[1]
ChairNicholas Sarwark
Candidates
Presidential nomineeJo Jorgensen
Vice presidential nomineeSpike Cohen
Voting
Total delegates1,026 delegates[2]

2020 U.S. presidential election
Democratic Party
Republican Party
Third parties
Related races
2020

After extensive discussion and debate surrounding the question of whether the party's bylaws permitted it to convene online,[6] the convention was eventually scheduled to be held online from May 22 to May 24 to nominate the party's presidential ticket and in Orlando, Florida from July 7 to July 12 to conduct other business.[7]

Nominations and balloting

Chair election

Joe Bishop-Henchman, Tony D'Orazio, Jacob Lamont, Mike Shipley, and Joshua Smith ran for chair of the Libertarian National Committee. Bishop-Henchman and Smith were both incumbent at-large representatives on the committee. Bishop-Henchman was also the incumbent chair of the DC Libertarian Party.[8] Smith previously ran for national chair at the 2018 convention.[9] Incumbent LNC Chair Nicholas Sarwark announced that he would not be running for a fourth term and endorsed Joe Bishop-Henchman.[10][11]

Endorsements
Joe Bishop-Henchman
Federal legislators
Party officials
Tony D'Orazio
Candidates
Jacob Lamont
Candidates
  • Starchild, Former Libertarian National Committee At-Large Representative, current chair of the Libertarian Party of San Francisco [14]
Joshua Smith

Former Congressman Ron Paul [15]

Vice-chair election

Incumbent LNC Vice Chair Alex Merced indicated that he would not seek re-election.[16]

Presidential nomination

Delegates were required to submit nominating tokens for candidates who they wished to place on the ballot for the nomination.[17] 30 Tokens was the threshold for being nominated,[18] with Jo Jorgensen, Jacob Hornberger, Vermin Supreme, John Monds, James P. Gray and Adam Kokesh meeting that mark.[17]

Vice-presidential nomination

The Libertarian Party delegates selected the party's vice-presidential nominee the day after they selected the presidential nominee.[19]

Nominee
Spike Cohen
Municipal officials
Individuals
  • Jacob Hornberger, founder and president of the Future of Freedom Foundation; 2020 presidential candidate[21]
  • Vermin Supreme, performance artist, activist and political satirist; 2020 presidential candidate[22]
Withdrawn
Ken Armstrong
Individuals
Organisations
  • Libertarian Pragmatist Caucus[24] (later endorsed Monds)[25]
John McAfee
Individuals
  • Adam Kokesh, activist; 2020 presidential candidate[26] (later endorsed Sharpe)
John Monds
Individuals
Organisations
  • Libertarian Pragmatist Caucus[25] (previously endorsed Armstrong)[24]
Larry Sharpe
Judicial officials
Individuals

Theme
The "Libersign", adopted as the Libertarian Party emblem in 1972.

In early 2019, the Libertarian Party held a contest, allowing members to decide the 2020 convention theme, charging $5 a vote.[28] On April 11, it was announced that the winning theme was "TANSTAAFL",[29] an acronym for "There Ain't No Such Thing As a Free Lunch", a libertarian economic concept popularized by American writer Robert Heinlein and subsequently Chicagoan school economist Milton Friedman.[30] The phrase was also embodied in the Libertarian Party's first logo, adopted in 1972, in an image known as the "Libersign".[31]

The second place theme was Ancapistan, an anarcho-capitalist utopia. Ancapistan, although controversial within the Party, was number one for many weeks during the contest, until in the final remaining hours leading up to midnight it was outspent by a few supporters of TANSTAAFL.

The theme contest raked in $24,007 for the LP to gear towards convention expenses.[29]

Convention speakers

Planned speakers

According to the convention website, the following notable people are scheduled speakers:[32]

Keynote speaker dispute

Black Guns Matter founder and 2019 candidate for Philadelphia City Council At-Large Maj Toure was initially chosen to be the convention's keynote speaker. This changed in November 2019, when Convention Oversight Committee Chairman Daniel Hayes rescinded Toure's invitation. Hayes cited tweets posted by Toure that were perceived as being transphobic and anti-immigrant.[33] Larry Sharpe, host of The Sharpe Way and 2018 Libertarian candidate for New York Governor was later selected to replace Toure as keynote speaker.[34]

Delegate allocation

Delegates to the convention were allocated based on the number of sustaining members of the national Libertarian Party per state, as well as the percentage of the vote cast by state in the 2016 presidential election for Libertarian presidential nominee Gary Johnson. Delegates will vote for changes to the national party's platform and bylaws, on members of the Libertarian National Committee and on the party's 2020 presidential and vice-presidential nominees.[35] A total of 1,046 delegates were selected to vote at the convention.[36]

Events

On the night of May 21 (EST), the final debates for president and vice-president are being held. Participation was limited to those candidates who had finished in the top five in receiving "debate tokens" from the national convention delegates, and had also received over 10% of those tokens.[37] Jim Gray, Jacob Hornberger, Jo Jorgensen, John Monds and Vermin Supreme all met this threshold and participated in the debate.[37] For the vice-presidential debate, participation was also limited to candidates in the top five with a 10% threshold.[37] Larry Sharpe, Spike Cohen and Ken Armstrong participated in the debate, with John McAfee placing in the top five but not receiving 10% of the tokens.[lower-alpha 1][37]

Schedule

Due to the coronavirus epidemic, the balloting for the LP presidential nomination was held online, while the rest of the convention is scheduled be held in person in July.[6][19] Several practice runs were done the previous weekend.[38]

Sunday, May 17th

Final Credentials Committee Report Pre-convention

Thursday, May 21st
  • Presidential debate, moderated by John Stossel.[39] (8:30PM Eastern Time)
  • Vice-presidential debate, hosted by Jim Turney (approx 10PM Eastern Time)

Both were broadcast on the Libertarian Party's YouTube channel.

Friday, May 22nd
  • Convention opens at 6PM Eastern Time
  • Credentials report.
  • Adoption of Agenda.

Saturday, May 23rd
  • Business resumes at 11AM Eastern Time
  • Nomination process for 2020 Libertarian Presidential Nominee

Jo Jorgensen is nominated on the fourth ballot.[40]

Sunday, May 24th
  • Business resumes at 10AM Eastern Time
  • Nomination process for 2020 Libertarian Vice-Presidential Nominee

Spike Cohen is nominated on the third ballot.

Presidential nomination results

Nomination round

Only candidates who received 30 or more tokens from the delegates qualified for the ballot.

2020 Libertarian National Convention Presidential vote – Nominations [41]
Candidate Tokens Percentage
Jacob Hornberger 218 24.8%
Jo Jorgensen 193 21.96%
Vermin Supreme 103 11.72%
John Monds 95 10.81%
Jim Gray 89 10.13%
Adam Kokesh 58 6.6%
Justin Amash (write-in) 27 3.07%
Arvin Vohra 27 3.07%
Dan Behrman 18 2.05%
Sam Robb 14 1.59%
Kim Ruff (write-in) 11 1.25%
Sorinne Ardeleanu 9 1.02%
Spike Cohen (write-in) 7 0.8%
Nicholas Sarwark (write-in) 6 0.68%
Larry Sharpe (write-in) 4 0.46%
Totals 879 100%

There were several attempts to place candidates who had not received 30 tokens on the ballot anyway, with special attention drawn to an attempt to place “Great Meteor of Death” on the ballot.[42]

Balloting
First round delegate winner by state/territory:
  Jo Jorgensen
  Jacob Hornberger
  John Monds
  Vermin Supreme
  Jim Gray
  Justin Amash (write-in)
  Tie
Second round delegate winner by state/territory:
  Jo Jorgensen
  Jacob Hornberger
  John Monds
  Vermin Supreme
  Jim Gray
  Tie
Third round delegate winner by state/territory:
  Jo Jorgensen
  Jacob Hornberger
  John Monds
  Vermin Supreme
  Tie
Final round delegate winner by state/territory:
  Jo Jorgensen
  Jacob Hornberger
  Vermin Supreme
  Tie

No candidate achieved the majority on the first ballot, so there was a second ballot vote. Due to finishing last of the six nominated candidates, Kokesh was excluded from the second ballot. No candidate achieved the majority on the second ballot, so there was a third ballot vote. Due to finishing last of the five remaining nominated candidates, Gray was excluded from the third ballot. Gray subsequently endorsed Jorgensen in his concession speech while Gray's running mate Larry Sharpe withdrew from the vice-presidential nomination. No candidate achieved the majority on the third ballot, so there was a fourth ballot vote. Due to finishing last of the four remaining nominated candidates, Monds was excluded from the fourth ballot. Monds subsequently endorsed Jorgensen in his concession speech and indicated he would accept the vice-presidential nomination if offered by the delegates.

Jorgensen was nominated on the fourth ballot with 51.07% of the vote.

2020 Libertarian National Convention Presidential vote – First Round[41] Second Round[41] Third Round[41] Fourth Round[41]
Candidate Nominations Percentage Nominations Percentage Nominations Percentage Nominations Percentage
Jo Jorgensen 248 24.39% 339 32.98% 390 38.11% 524 51.07%
Jacob Hornberger 236 23.21% 257 25.00% 264 25.73% 285 27.78%
Vermin Supreme 171 16.81% 184 17.90% 188 18.32% 206 20.08%
John Monds 147 14.45% 169 16.44% 174 16.86% 1 0.10%
Jim Gray 98 9.64% 64 6.23% – – – –
Adam Kokesh 77 7.57% 6 0.58% 1 0.10% 1 0.10%
None of the Above 8 0.79% 6 0.58% 7 0.68% 4 0.49%
Nicholas Sarwark (write-in) 5 0.49% 1 0.10% 1 0.10% 1 0.10%
Sorinne Ardeleanu (write-in) 2 0.20% – – – – 1 0.10%
John Ammens (write-in) – – – – – – 1 0.10%
Ryan Graham (write-in) – – – – – – 1 0.10%
Godzilla (write-in) – – – – – – 1 0.10%
Laura Ebke (write-in) – – – – 1 0.10% – -
Justin Amash (write-in) 17 1.67% 1 0.10% – – – –
Darryl Perry (write-in) – – 1 0.10% – – – –
Arvin Vohra (write-in) 3 0.29% – – – – – –
Edward Snowden (write-in) 2 0.20% – – – – – –
Rhett Boogie (write-in) 1 0.10% – – – – – –
Lincoln Chafee (write-in) 1 0.10% – – – – – –
John Stossel (write-in) 1 0.10% – – – – – –
Totals 1,017 100% 1,028 100% 1,026 100% 1,026 100%

Vice presidential nomination results

Only candidates who received 30 or more tokens from the convention delegates qualified for the ballot.

Nomination round
2020 Libertarian National Convention Vice Presidential vote – Nominations [43]
Candidate Tokens Percentage
Spike Cohen 302 34.55%
John Monds 296 33.87%
Ken Armstrong 115 13.16%
Adam Kokesh 69 7.89%
Larry Sharpe (write-in) 21 2.40%
Nicholas Sarwark (write-in) 20 2.29%
Zoltan Istvan 7 0.80%
Vermin Supreme (write-in) 7 0.80%
James P. Gray (write-in) 6 0.69%
John McAfee 6 0.69%
Sam Robb (write-in) 5 0.57%
Tulsi Gabbard (write-in) 2 0.23%
Michael Heise (write-in) 2 0.23%
Ron Paul (write-in) 2 0.23%
Totals 874 100%

Balloting

Prior to voting, presidential nominee Jo Jorgensen said that she would be voting for John Monds as her vice presidential running mate, but declined to endorse a candidate.

No candidate achieved the majority on the first ballot, so there was a second ballot vote. Due to finishing last of the four nominated candidates, Kokesh was excluded from the second ballot. No candidate achieved the majority on the second ballot, so there was a third ballot vote. Due to finishing last of the three remaining nominated candidates, Armstrong was excluded from the third ballot. Armstrong endorsed Cohen in his concession speech. Cohen received the vice presidential nomination on the third ballot.

2020 Libertarian National Convention Vice Presidential vote – First Round [43] Second Round [43] Third Round [43]
Candidate Nominations Percentage Nominations Percentage Nominations Percentage
Spike Cohen 416 40.63% 474 46.24% 533 52.15%
John Monds 322 31.45% 432 42.15% 472 46.18%
Ken Armstrong 180 17.58% 96 9.37% 1 0.10%
Adam Kokesh 87 8.50% 4 0.40% 3 0.29%
None of the above 7 0.68% 12 1.17% 10 0.98%
John McAfee (write-in) 2 0.20% – – – –
Nicholas Sarwark (write-in) 2 0.20% – – – –
Justin Amash (write-in) 1 0.10% 1 0.10% – –
Sorinne Ardeleanu (write-in) 1 0.10% 1 0.10% 1 0.10%
Julian Assange (write-in) 1 0.10% 1 0.10% – –
Rhett Boogie (write-in) 1 0.10% – – – –
Michael Cordova (write-in) – – – – 1 0.10%
Laura Ebke (write-in) 1 0.10% – – – –
Michael Kalagias (write-in) 1 0.10% – – – –
John McAfee (write-in) 1 0.10% – – – –
Ron Paul (write-in) – – 1 0.10% 1 0.10%
Nicholas Sarwark (write-in) 1 0.10% – – – –
Edward Snowden (write-in) 1 0.10% 2 0.20% – –
Chris Spangle (write-in) – – 2 0.20% – –
Vermin Supreme (write-in) 1 0.10% – – – –
Totals 1,024 100% 1,025 100% 1,022 100%

Delegate polling

National polling of delegates to the Convention

Both of these polls were conducted using ranked choice voting, progression down the table indicates later rounds of voting as the candidate with the lowest total is eliminated.

Poll source Sample size Date(s) Amash Gray Hornberger Jorgensen Kokesh Monds Supreme Others
OpaVote Released May 19, 2020 350 (V)[lower-alpha 2] –[lower-alpha 3] 17.4% 22.9% 22% 7.7% 9.1% 12.6% 8.3[lower-alpha 4][lower-alpha 5]
17.4% 22.9% 22% 7.7% 9.1% 12.6% 8.3[lower-alpha 6][lower-alpha 5]
17.7% 23.1% 22.3% 7.7% 9.1% 12.6% 7.4%[lower-alpha 7][lower-alpha 5]
17.7% 23.4% 22.3% 7.7% 9.7% 12.9% 6.3%[lower-alpha 8][lower-alpha 5]
17.7% 24.0% 22.3% 8.6% 10% 13.7% 3.7%[lower-alpha 9][lower-alpha 5]
19.2% 24.4% 23% 8.8% 10.5% 14.2% –[lower-alpha 10]
20.4% 25.7% 26% – 11.5% 16.3% –[lower-alpha 11]
22% 27.6% 31.8% – – 18.7% –[lower-alpha 12]
26.5% 32.4% 41.1% – – – –[lower-alpha 13]
– 39.5% 60.5% – – – –[lower-alpha 14]
36.2% 6.1% 17.1% 12.8% 7% 5.5% 9.9% 5.4%[lower-alpha 15][lower-alpha 5]
36.2% 6.1% 17.1% 12.8% 7% 5.5% 9.9% 5.4%[lower-alpha 16][lower-alpha 5]
36.2% 6.1% 17.4% 12.8% 7% 5.5% 10.1% 4.9%[lower-alpha 17][lower-alpha 5]
36.2% 6.4% 18% 13% 7% 5.5% 10.1% 3.7%[lower-alpha 18][lower-alpha 5]
36.8% 6.7% 18.1% 13.2% 7% 5.6% 10.2% 2.3%[lower-alpha 19][lower-alpha 20]
37.1% 6.7% 18.7% 13.2% 7.6% 5.8% 10.8% –[lower-alpha 20]
37.7% 7% 19.9% 15.2% 7.9% – 12.3% –[lower-alpha 20]
39.4% – 20.6% 19.1% 8.2% – 12.6% –[lower-alpha 21]
41.1% – 21.9% 22.2% – – 14.7% –[lower-alpha 11]
44.9% – 25.6% 29.4% – – – –[lower-alpha 13]
52.8% – – 47.2% – – – –[lower-alpha 22]

See also

Notes
  1. Fifth place went to Monds, who was not running for vice-president
  2. Ranked Choice Voting
  3. Without Amash
  4. None of the Above with 3.7%; Vohra with 2.3%; Behrman with 1.4%; Robb with 0.9%; Brian Ellison with no votes
  5. No votes exhausted
  6. None of the Above with 3.7%; Vohra with 2.3%; Behrman with 1.4%; Robb with 0.9%
  7. None of the Above with 3.7%; Vohra with 2.3%; Behrman with 1.4%
  8. None of the Above with 3.7%; Vohra with 2.6%
  9. None of the Above with 3.7%
  10. 6 votes exhausted
  11. 12 votes exhausted
  12. 13 votes exhausted
  13. 29 votes exhausted
  14. 46 votes exhausted
  15. Vohra with 2.3%; None of the Above with 1.4%; Behra and Robb with 0.9%; Brian Ellison with no votes
  16. Vohra with 2.3%; None of the Above with 1.4%; Behra and Robb with 0.9%
  17. Vohra with 2.3%; None of the Above with 1.4%; Robb with 1.2%
  18. Vohra with 2.3%; None of the Above with 1.4%
  19. Vohra with 2.3%
  20. 3 votes exhausted
  21. 5 votes exhausted
  22. 40 votes exhausted

References
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  14. "Libertarian Party of San Francisco |". www.lpsf.org.
  15. https://twitter.com/JoshuaAtLarge/status/1278452032244940801
  16. "Am I running for re-election as LNC Vice-Chair?". January 26, 2020. Retrieved January 27, 2020 – via YouTube.com.
  17. Winger, Richard (May 23, 2020). "Six Candidates for President at Libertarian Convention Qualify to be Nominated". Ballot Access News. Retrieved May 24, 2020.
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  19. "Schedule".
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  30. Safire, William "On Language; Words Left Out in the Cold" New York Times, 2-14-1993
  31. "LPNews – December 2011".
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  34. "We are pleased to announce that the Keynote speaker for the 2020 Libertarian National Convention will be Larry Sharpe". Retrieved November 17, 2019 – via Facebook.com.
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