Gary Johnson

Johnson entered politics in 1994 with the intention of running for governor and was advised by "Republican Elders"[24] to run for the State Legislature instead.[24] Despite their advice, Johnson spent $500,000 of his own money and entered the race with the intent of bringing a "common sense business approach" to the office.[27] Johnson's campaign slogan was "People before Politics".[28] His platform emphasized tax cuts, job creation, state government spending growth restraint, and law and order.[4] He won the Republican nomination, defeating state legislator Richard P. Cheney by 34% to 33%, with John Dendahl and former governor David F. Cargo in third and fourth. Johnson subsequently won a plurality in the three-way general election, defeating the incumbent Governor Bruce King (a relatively conservative Democrat) and the former Lieutenant Governor Roberto Mondragón (who ran as a Green) with just under 50% of the vote. Johnson was elected in a nationally Republican year, although party registration in the state of New Mexico at the time was 2-to-1 Democratic.[29]

As governor, Johnson followed a strict small-government approach. According to former New Mexico Republican National Committee member Mickey D. Barnett, "Any time someone approached him about legislation for some purpose, his first response always was to ask if government should be involved in that to begin with."[30] He vetoed 200 of 424 bills passed in his first six months in office – a national record of 47% of all legislation – and used the line-item veto on most remaining bills.[5] In office, Johnson fulfilled his campaign promise to reduce the 10% annual growth of the state budget.[5] In his first budget, Johnson proposed a wide range of tax cuts, including a repeal of the prescription drug tax, a $47 million income tax cut, and a 6-cents-per-gallon gasoline tax cut. However, of these, only the gasoline tax cut was passed.[31] During the November 1995 federal government shutdown, he joined 20 other Republican governors who called on the Republican leadership in Congress to stand firm against the Clinton administration in budget negotiations; in the article reporting on the letter and concomitant news conference he was quoted as calling for eliminating the budget deficit through proportional cuts across the budget.[32] Although Johnson worked to reduce overall state spending, in his first term he raised education spending by nearly a third.[33] When drop-out rates and test scores showed little improvement, Johnson changed his tactics and began advocating school vouchers – a key issue in budget battles of his second term as governor.[33]

In 1998, Johnson ran for reelection as governor against Democratic Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chávez. In his campaign, Johnson promised to continue the policies of his first term: improving schools; cutting state spending, taxes, and bureaucracy; and frequent use of his veto and line-item veto power.[34] Fielding a strong Hispanic candidate in a 40% Hispanic state, the Democrats were expected to oust Johnson,[33] but Johnson won by a margin of 55% to 45%.[35] This made him the first governor of New Mexico to serve two successive four-year terms after term limits were expanded to two terms in 1991.[27] Johnson made the promotion of a school voucher system a "hallmark issue" of his second term.[36] In 1999, he proposed the first statewide voucher system in America, which would have enrolled 100,000 students in its first year.[33]

That year, he vetoed two budgets that failed to include a voucher program and a government shutdown was threatened,[33] but ultimately yielded to Democratic majorities in both houses of the New Mexico Legislature, who opposed the plan. Johnson signed the budget, but line-item vetoed a further $21 million, or 1%, from the legislative plan.[37] In 1999, Johnson became one of the highest-ranking elected officials in the US to advocate the legalization of marijuana.[38] Saying the War on Drugs was "an expensive bust", he advocated the decriminalization of marijuana use and concentration on harm-reduction measures for all other illegal drugs.[39] He compared attempts to enforce the nation's drug laws with the failed attempt at alcohol prohibition. In remarks in 2011, he noted: "Half of what government spends on police, courts and prisons is to deal with drug offenders."[23] He suggested that drug abuse be treated as a health issue, not as a criminal issue. His approach to the issue garnered supportive notice from conservative icon William F. Buckley,[40] as well as the Cato Institute and Rolling Stone.[24][41]

In 2000, Johnson proposed a more ambitious voucher program than he had proposed the year before, under which each parent would receive $3,500 per child for education at any private or parochial school.[36] The Democrats sought $90m extra school funding without school vouchers, and questioned Johnson's request for more funding for state-run prisons, having opposed his opening of two private prisons.[42] Negotiations between the governor and the legislature were contentious, again nearly leading to a government shutdown. In 2000, New Mexico was devastated by the Cerro Grande Fire. Johnson's handling of the disaster earned him accolades from The Denver Post, which observed that:

Johnson.....was all over the Cerro Grande Fire last week. He helped reporters understand where the fire was headed when low-level Forest Service officials couldn't, ran herd over the bureaucratic process of getting state and federal agencies and the National Guard involved, and even helped put out some of the fire with his feet. On a tour of Los Alamos last Wednesday, when he saw small flames spreading across a lawn, he had his driver stop his car. He jumped out and stomped on the flames, as did his wife and some of his staffers.[39]

Johnson's leadership during the fire was praised by Democratic Congressman Tom Udall, who said: "I think the real test of leadership is when you have circumstances like this. He's called on his reserves of energy and has just been a really excellent leader under very difficult circumstances here."[39] Johnson rebuffed efforts by the Libertarian Party to draft him in the 2000 presidential election, stating himself to be a Republican with no interest in running for president.[43]

According to anonymous sources, Governor Johnson was known for a lack of interest in policy details[44] and those who worked with Johnson at the time "recall a chief executive who would speed through meetings and often preferred to discuss his fitness routine than focus on the minutiae of policymaking."[44] In his first term, he frequently clashed with the legislature, but in the second term, he "became more comfortable with the limits of his executive power" and took a more conciliatory approach.[44]

Johnson at Ron Paul's "Rally for the Republic" in 2008

Commentator Andrew Sullivan quoted a claim that Johnson "is highly regarded in the state for his outstanding leadership during two terms as governor. He slashed the size of state government during his term and left the state with a large budget surplus."[45] In an interview in Reason in January 2001, Johnson's accomplishments in office were described as follows: "no tax increases in six years, a major road building program, shifting Medicaid to managed care, constructing two new private prisons, canning 1,200 state employees, and vetoing a record number of bills."[27] According to one New Mexico paper, "Johnson left the state fiscally solid" and was "arguably the most popular governor of the decade... leaving the state with a $1 billion budget surplus."[46] The Washington Times reported that when Johnson left office, "the size of state government had been substantially reduced and New Mexico was enjoying a large budget surplus."[30] In a 2016 National Review article, Johnson was criticized for claiming to have balanced New Mexico's budget every year.[47] The Constitution of New Mexico requires that the state budget be balanced,[47][48] with its debt in a separate "capital outlay" budget.[47] The article stated that under Johnson New Mexico's debt increased from $1.8 billion to $4.6 billion[47] and its budget increased from $4.397 billion to $7.721 billion.[47]

According to a 2011 profile of Johnson in the National Review, "During his tenure, he vetoed more bills than the other 49 governors combined – 750 in total, one third of which had been introduced by Republican legislators. Johnson also used his line-item-veto power thousands of times. He credits his heavy veto pen for eliminating New Mexico's budget deficit and cutting the growth rate of New Mexico's government in half."[49] According to the Myrtle Beach Sun News, Johnson "said his numerous vetoes, only two of which were overridden, stemmed from his philosophy of looking at all things for their cost–benefit ratio and his axe fell on Republicans as well as Democrats."[23]

While in office, Johnson was criticized for opposing funding for an independent study of private prisons after a series of riots and killings at the facilities.[50] Martin Chavez, his opponent in the 1998 New Mexico gubernatorial race, criticized Johnson for his frequent vetoing of programs, suggesting that it resulted in New Mexico's low economic and social standing nationally.[34] Journalist Mark Ames described Johnson as "a hard-core conservative" who "ruled the state like a right-wing authoritarian" and only embraced marijuana legalization in his second term for populist gain.[51] This was mainly in reference to a commercial from Johnson's reelection campaign featuring Johnson saying that a felon in New Mexico would serve "every lousy second" of their prison sentence. Johnson insisted, however, that the commercial was directed at "the guy who's got his gun out" rather than nonviolent drug offenders.[51]

Johnson was term limited and could not run for a third consecutive term as governor in 2002.[52] In the 2008 presidential election campaign, Johnson endorsed Ron Paul for the Republican nomination, "because of his commitment to less government, greater liberty, and lasting prosperity for America."[53][54] Johnson spoke at Paul's "Rally for the Republic" on September 2, 2008.[55]

Johnson serves on the Advisory Council of Students for Sensible Drug Policy,[56] a student nonprofit organization which advocates for drug policy reform.

As of April 2011, he serves on the board of directors of Students For Liberty, a nonprofit libertarian organization.[57] His first book, Seven Principles of Good Government, was published on August 1, 2012.[58]

Logo of the Our America Initiative, which Johnson founded in 2009

Johnson after a campaign rally in a photo shoot for Reason

In 2009, Johnson began indicating interest in running for president in the 2012 election.[59][60] In the April 20, 2009, edition of The American Conservative magazine, Bill Kauffman told readers to "keep an eye out" for a Johnson presidential campaign in 2012, reporting that Johnson had told him that "he was keeping his options open for 2012" and that "he may take a shot at the Republican presidential nomination in 2012 as an antiwar, anti-Fed, pro-personal liberties, slash-government-spending candidate – in other words, a Ron Paul libertarian".[59] During a June 24, 2009, appearance on Fox News's Freedom Watch, host Judge Andrew Napolitano asked Johnson if he would run for president in 2012, to which Johnson responded that he thought it would be inappropriate to openly express his desires before President Obama is given the opportunity to prove himself, but he followed up that statement by saying "it appears personal freedoms are being shoveled out the window more and more."[61]

In an October 26, 2009, interview with the Santa Fe New Mexican's Steve Terrell, Johnson announced his decision to form an advocacy committee called the Our America Initiative to help him raise funds and promote small government ideas. In December 2009, Johnson asked strategist Ron Nielson of NSON Opinion Strategy, who has worked with Johnson since 1993 when he ran his successful gubernatorial campaign, to organize the Our American Initiative as a 501(c)(4) committee. Nielson serves as a senior advisor to Our America Initiative. The stated focus of the organization is to "speak out on issues regarding topics such as government efficiency, lowering taxes, ending the war on drugs, protecting civil liberties, revitalizing the economy and promoting entrepreneurship and privatization".[62] The move prompted speculation among media pundits and Johnson's supporters that he might be laying the groundwork for a 2012 presidential run.[63][64] Throughout 2010, Johnson repeatedly deflected questions about a 2012 presidential bid by saying his 501(c)(4) status prevented him from expressing a desire to run for federal office on politics.[65][66]

In February 2010, Johnson was a featured speaker at both the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) and the Republican Liberty Caucus. At CPAC, "the crowd liked him – even as he pushed some of his more controversial points."[67] Johnson tied with New Jersey Governor Chris Christie for third in the CPAC Straw Poll, trailing only Ron Paul and Mitt Romney (and ahead of such notables as former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, former Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels and former Alaska Governor and 2008 vice presidential candidate Sarah Palin).[68] David Weigel of Slate called Johnson the second-biggest winner of the conference, writing that his "third-place showing in the straw poll gave Johnson his first real media hook ... He met tons of reporters, commanded a small scrum after the vote, and is a slightly lighter shade of dark horse now."[69]

On April 21, 2011, Johnson announced via Twitter, "I am running for president."[70] He followed this announcement with a speech at the New Hampshire State House in Concord, New Hampshire.[9] He was the first of an eventually large field to announce his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination.[71] Johnson again chose Ron Nielson of NSON Opinion Strategy, a director for both of his New Mexico gubernatorial campaigns, as his presidential campaign manager and senior advisor.[71] The campaign was headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, where Nielson's offices are located.[71] Johnson's economics advisor was Harvard economics professor Jeffrey Miron.[72] Initially, Johnson hoped Ron Paul would not run for president so that Johnson could galvanize Paul's network of libertarian-minded voters, and he even traveled to Houston to tell Paul of his decision to run in person,[71] but Paul announced his candidacy on May 13, 2011.

Johnson participated in the first of the Republican presidential debates, hosted by Fox News in South Carolina on May 5, 2011, appearing on stage with Herman Cain, Ron Paul, Tim Pawlenty, and Rick Santorum. Mitt Romney and Michele Bachmann both declined to debate. Johnson was excluded from the next three debates on June 13 (hosted by CNN in New Hampshire), August 11 (hosted by Fox News in Iowa), and September 7 (hosted by CNN in California).[71] After the first exclusion, Johnson made a 43-minute video responding to each of the debate questions, which he posted on YouTube.[71][73] The first exclusion, which was widely publicized, gave Johnson "a little bump" in name recognition and produced "a small uptick" in donations.[71] But "the long term consequences were dismal."[71] For the financial quarter ending June 30, Johnson raised a mere $180,000.[71] Fox News decided that because Johnson polled at least 2% in five recent polls, he could participate in a September 22 debate in Florida, which it co-hosted with the Florida Republican Party (the party objected to Johnson's inclusion).[71] Johnson participated, appearing on stage with Michele Bachmann, Herman Cain, Newt Gingrich, Jon Huntsman, Ron Paul, Rick Perry, Mitt Romney, and Rick Santorum. During the debate, Johnson delivered what many media outlets, including the Los Angeles Times, and Time, called the best line of the night: "My next-door neighbor's two dogs have created more shovel ready jobs than this administration."[74][75] Entertainment Weekly opined that Johnson had won the debate.[76]

Although Johnson had focused the majority of his campaign activities on the New Hampshire primary, he announced on November 29, 2011, that he would no longer campaign there due to his inability to gain traction with less than a month until the primary.[77] There was speculation in the media that he might run as a Libertarian Party candidate instead. Johnson acknowledged that he was considering such a move.[78][79][80] In December, Politico reported that Johnson would quit the Republican primaries and announce his intention to seek the Libertarian Party nomination at a December 28 press conference.[81] He also encouraged his supporters to vote for Ron Paul in 2012 Republican presidential primaries.

Gary Johnson at the 2012 Libertarian National Convention

On December 28, 2011, Johnson formally withdrew his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination, and declared his candidacy for the 2012 presidential nomination of the Libertarian Party in Santa Fe, New Mexico.[10] On May 5, 2012, at the 2012 Libertarian National Convention, Johnson received the Libertarian Party's official nomination for president in the 2012 election, by a vote of 419 votes to 152 votes for second-place candidate R. Lee Wrights.[2][82] In his acceptance speech, Johnson asked the convention's delegates to nominate as his running mate Judge Jim Gray of California.[83] Gray subsequently received the party's vice-presidential nomination on the first ballot.[82]

Johnson spent the early months of his campaign making media appearances on television programs such as The Daily Show with Jon Stewart[84] and Red Eye w/Greg Gutfeld.[85] Starting in September 2012, Johnson embarked on a three-week tour of college campuses throughout the US.[86][87] On October 23, 2012, Gary Johnson participated in a third-party debate that was aired on C-SPAN, RT America, and Al Jazeera English.[88][89] A post-debate online election allowed people to choose two candidates from the debate they thought had won to face each other head-to-head in a run-off debate. Gary Johnson and Jill Stein won the poll.[90]

Johnson stated that his goal was to win at least 5 percent of the vote, as winning 5 percent would allow Libertarian Party candidates equal ballot access and federal funding during the next election cycle.[91][92] In a national Gallup poll of likely registered voters conducted June 7 through June 10, 2012, Johnson took 3% of the vote,[93] while a Gallup poll conducted September 6 through September 9, 2012, showed Johnson taking 1% of likely voters.[94]

The final results showed Johnson received 1% of the popular vote, a total of 1,275,971 votes.[95] This was the best result in the Libertarian Party's history by raw vote number, though under the 1.1 percentage of the vote won by Ed Clark in 1980.[11][96][97] Despite falling short of his stated goal of 5%, Johnson stated, "Ours is a mission accomplished."[98] In regards to a future presidential bid, he said "it is too soon to be talking about 2016".[98]

In December 2013, Johnson announced the founding of his own Super PAC, Our America Initiative PAC. The Super PAC is intended to support libertarian-minded causes. "From the realities of government-run healthcare setting in to the continuing disclosures of the breadth of NSA's domestic spying, more Americans than ever are ready to take a serious look at candidates who offer real alternatives to business-as-usual," the release announcing the PAC said.[101]

In July 2014, Johnson was named president and CEO of Cannabis Sativa Inc., a Nevada-based company that aims primarily to sell medical cannabis products in states where medicinal and/or recreational cannabis is legal.[102][103][104]

In 2020, Johnson joined the Libertarians for National Popular Vote's advisory board.[105]

In 1994, Johnson ran for governor of New Mexico, campaigning as a strong proponent of the death penalty,[147] but over time, he changed his opinion. He now supports abolishing capital punishment and replacing it with life sentences.[148]

Johnson's 2016 campaign website acknowledged that the climate is "probably" changing and that humans are "probably" contributing to this change. Johnson has argued that climate change will not matter in the "long-term" and rejects government action to control or limit – including cap and trade – as ineffective: "When you look at the amount of money we are looking to spend on global warming – in the trillions – and look at the result, I just argue that the result is completely inconsequential to the money we would end up spending," he said. "We can direct those moneys to other ways that would be much more beneficial to mankind."[149] Johnson has signed the Western Governors' Association resolution, which aims at "collaborative, incentive driven, locally-based solutions," and has advocated for free market solutions to environmental problems. He has stated that he will not "compromise when it comes to clean air, clean land, or clean water."[150] Johnson supports nuclear energy and fossil fuels, but has stated that the government has a role to protect Americans against businesses that would harm human health or property, including environmental harm.[151]

Johnson opposed the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Citizens United v. FEC, allowing unlimited corporate independent expenditures on political campaigns, while also encouraging full disclosure of such expenditures.[148][152]

Johnson has said that he would immediately balance the federal budget, and would demand a balanced budget amendment,[153] but maintained a state deficit.

He has stated he supports "slashing government spending", including Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security,[142] which would involve cutting Medicare and Medicaid by 43 percent and turning them into block grant programs, with control of spending in the hands of the states to create, in his words, "fifty laboratories of innovation."[153] He has referred to Social Security as a pyramid scheme. He has advocated passing a law allowing for state bankruptcy and expressly ruling out a federal bailout of any states.[136]

Johnson has expressed opposition to the Federal Reserve System, which he has cited as massively devaluing the strength of the U.S. dollar, and would not veto legislation to eliminate it – although he has stated that no such bill is likely to come out of Congress during his administration. He has also supported an audit of the central bank, and urged Members of Congress in July 2012 to vote in favor of Ron Paul's Federal Reserve Transparency Act.[154]

In his campaign for the Libertarian Party nomination, he stated he opposed foreign wars and pledged to cut the military budget by 43 percent in his first term as president.[138] He would cut the military's overseas bases, uniformed and civilian personnel, research and development, intelligence, and nuclear weapons programs, while maintaining an "invincible defense."[155][156] Johnson opposes U.S. involvement in the War in Afghanistan and opposed the U.S. involvement in the Libyan Civil War.[157] He has stated that he does not believe Iran is a military threat, would use his presidential power to prevent Israel from attacking Iran, and would not follow Israel, or any other ally, into a war that it had initiated.[158] While Johnson views the Islamic threat to the US as overrated, he has been openly advocating for greater diplomacy with China regarding North Korea, which, in his view, "is the biggest threat in the world today," stating "...one of these days, one of their ICBMs is going to work."[159] However, he does support waging war for humanitarian reasons.[160][161][162]

Johnson has been a strong supporter of civil liberties and has received the highest score of any candidate from the American Civil Liberties Union for supporting drug decriminalization while opposing censorship and regulation of the Internet, the Patriot Act, enhanced airport screenings, and the indefinite detention of prisoners.[163] He has spoken in favor of the separation of church and state, and has said that he does not "seek the counsel of God" when determining his political agenda.[164] Johnson endorsed same-sex marriage in 2011;[165] he has since called for a constitutional amendment protecting equal marriage rights,[165] and criticized Obama's position on the issue as having "thrown this question back to the states."[165] Johnson supports the enforcement of Protected Classes that was established by the Civil Rights Act of 1964, and believes that providers should be prohibited from discriminating between customers based on demographics, such as race or sexuality. This differentiated him from his Libertarian Party opponents in the party primary, especially Austin Petersen. He has been a longtime advocate of legalizing marijuana and has said that if he were president, he would remove it from Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act as well as issue an executive order pardoning nonviolent marijuana offenders.[166] Johnson has stated that he would pardon NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden.[167] He believes that decriminalizing sex work should be left up to the states, but has said that prostitutes are more "at risk" in an illegal environment.[168][169]

Johnson supports abortion access. He has stated he believes that "it's the woman's choice." His 2016 position page on abortion states the "woman must be allowed to make decisions about her own health" and "government should not be in the business of second guessing".[170]

Johnson supports comprehensive immigration reform and has criticized the immigration stances of Obama, Trump and Hillary Clinton. In his 2012 campaign, he summed up his proposals as simplifying legal immigration while tackling illegal immigration.[171] Johnson proposes "eliminating categories and quotas" and offering illegal immigrants without criminal records in the U.S. a path to legal status. In 2012, he called walls ineffective in stopping illegal immigrants and argued that the U.S. should instead work on tackling Mexican drug cartels by decriminalizing marijuana and giving cartels "diminished incentives to violate U.S. law."[171] Johnson believes the root of illegal immigration is what he calls America's complicated immigration policies and has said the U.S. should "recognize the real problem – a flawed system – and fix it". "Even for those from the right countries or with the right skills, our bureaucracy makes it ridiculously slow and cumbersome to come here legally", he has said.[172] Johnson advocates simplifying restrictions on temporary work visas, granting illegal immigrants who obey the law a two-year grace period to obtain work visas and streamlining the immigration process. He has also said, "a work visa should include a background check and a Social Security card so that taxes get paid" and supports a one strike, you're out deportation rule for immigrants who try to circumnavigate or cheat a simplified immigration process.[173][174][175]

Johnson opposes federal and state gun control legislation, saying: "I'm a firm believer in the Second Amendment and so I would not have signed legislation banning assault weapons or automatic weapons."[176] Johnson says that the Second Amendment "was designed to protect us against a government that could be very intrusive. And in this country, we have a growing police state – if people can own assault rifles or automatic rifles, I think leads to a more civil government."[176] Johnson would, however, limit weapons such as rocket launchers.[176] Johnson believes that allowing concealed carrying of guns reduces crime and gun violence.[176][177] He opposes barring gun sales to individuals on the no-fly list, because he claims that such lists have a high error rate.[177] Johnson has called for a "thousand-person taskforce" or "hot line" to prevent terrorists from obtaining guns, and has questioned why the perpetrator of the Orlando nightclub shooting was not "deprived of his guns" after being interviewed three times.[178]