For a description of the effect the two third-party candidates might have this year, see Rachel Alexander’s Will the Third Party Candidates Count for Once?. See also her article The Minor Candidates: The Green Jill Stein.

Fiscally conservative and socially liberal, the Libertarian Party presidential candidate refers to himself as a classical liberal — but even then, he’s not a typical classical liberal. Gary Johnson is known for provocative statements, such as calling Social Security a ponzi (pyramid) scheme, but also for not knowing what Aleppo is. He favors cutting taxes and regulation and legalizing marijuana — and indeed ran a company called Cannabis Sativa Inc. He is also the only presidential candidate ever to have climbed Mt. Everest.

All that may help explain how as a Republican he twice got elected governor of New Mexico, a light blue state that has voted Democratic in five of the last six presidential elections.

His running mate did the same. Former Massachusetts Republican governor Bill Weld is known for being a very moderate Republican, fiscally conservative but pro-choice — he even opposes banning partial-birth abortion — and pro-gay marriage.

A successful businessman, Johnson started a mechanical contracting company, Big J Enterprises, and turned it into one of New Mexico’s leading construction companies worth millions. He is a triathlete and lives in a home he built himself in Taos, New Mexico. He has climbed the tallest mountains on all seven continents. A widower, he is currently engaged to a real estate agent he met at a bike race.

Johnson’s Record

As a two-term governor — he was elected in 1994 and by a bigger margin in 1998 — Johnson’s record stood out for reducing the size of government. He had run on the slogan “People Before Politics” and for him that meant reducing the size of state government. After assuming office, he halted the 10 percent annual growth in the budget and eliminated 1,200 state employee jobs. He never raised taxes and instead cut them 14 times.

Former New Mexico Republican National Committee member Mickey D. Barnett described Johnson’s style this way: “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.”

Some of his positions are the same as or close to mainstream Republican positions. (The Johnson/Weld platform can be found here.) He supports the FairTax and if elected president would abolish the Federal Reserve. As governor he tried (unsuccessfully) to implement school vouchers statewide.

However, many of Johnson’s other positions would not resonate well with Republicans.His campaign website claims that “Legalizing and regulating marijuana will save lives and make our communities safer by eliminating crime and creating an industry that can legitimately participate in America’s economy.” In addition to his support for legalizing marijuana use, he supports same-sex marriage, and believes federal law should prohibit businesses from refusing service for same-sex weddings. He boasts of promoting “marriage equality” before any of the Democrats.

Abortion, God, and the Wall

He says that abortion is a woman’s personal choice and should not be limited by the government, although as governor he supported efforts to ban late-term abortions and his campaign website says he “believes in the sanctity of the life of the unborn.” The website summarizes his view as “Appreciate Life. Respect Choice. Stay Out of Personal Decisions.” He had been more definite in a 2012 interview, declaring “I absolutely support a woman’s right to choose.”

Johnson does not consult God for advice in politics and does not believe religion has any role in politics. In the 2012 interview, he said “I don’t seek the counsel of God. God doesn’t speak to me on what I should or shouldn’t do.” He hasn’t gone to church since being confirmed in the Lutheran church.

Johnson’s views of foreign policy are more similar to Green candidate Jill Stein’s than to either of the major candidates, condemning most foreign involvements as “our meddling in the affairs of others.” This has hurt the United States much more than it has helped, he says. He vows to cut the military’s budget by 43 percent. He does not believe Iran is a threat, and would intervene to stop Israel from attacking Iran.

Rejecting one of Donald Trump’s signature policies, Johnson would not build a wall between the U.S. border and Mexico. Instead, he wants to make entering the country legally “simpler and more efficient” and to encourage immigrants to “assimilate with our diverse society.”

Johnson’s Campaigns

He ran for president in 2012, first as a Republican but then switched to the Libertarian party and got that party’s nomination. He received .99 percent of the vote (almost 1.3 million votes) in the general election, appearing on 48 state ballots. While running as a Republican candidate, he participated in one of GOP primary debates and made the memorable statement, “My next-door neighbor’s two dogs have created more shovel-ready jobs than this administration.”

When asked in 2014 whether he would run as a Republican or Libertarian for president in 2016, he responded, “I would love running as a Libertarian because I would have the least amount of explaining to do.”