Jorgensen's positions are typically described as being consistent with the Libertarian Party's platform.[11][12][13] Her campaign has received less media coverage than those of Gary Johnson, former Republican governor of New Mexico and Jorgensen's predecessor as the Libertarian Party's presidential nominee in 2012 and 2016. Her name recognition upon entering the race is also widely considered to have been lower than Johnson's.[12][13][14][15][16][17] Although Jorgensen is often described as appealing to the Libertarian Party's base, some in the party, such as her main primary opponent Future of Freedom Foundation founder Jacob Hornberger, have criticized her for perceived departures from libertarian ideology in exchange for mainstream appeal.[18]
The Libertarian Party experienced a competitive primary.[19] On May 23, at the virtual 2020 Libertarian National Convention, Jorgensen was selected as the party's 2020 presidential nominee after four rounds of voting by delegates.[20] She is the party's first female presidential nominee.[15] Podcaster Spike Cohen—Vermin Supreme's original running mate—was selected to be Jorgensen's running mate the next day, despite Jorgensen having expressed a preference for fellow presidential candidate John Monds.[21][22]
Background
In 1996, Jorgensen was nominated by the Libertarian Party as its candidate for vice president in the 1996 election. The party's presidential nominee was free market writer and investment analyst Harry Browne.[23] The Browne/Jorgensen ticket received 485,798 votes (0.5% of the popular vote) in the general election, which was won by incumbent president Bill Clinton.[24][25] Jorgensen had previously run for South Carolina's 4th congressional district in 1992, receiving 4,286 votes (2.2% of the popular vote).[26]
Jorgensen supports a free-market healthcare system financed by individual spending accounts that could keep any savings, which she believes would increase healthcare providers' incentive to compete by meeting consumer demand for low-cost services.[27][28][29] She opposes single-payer healthcare, calling it "disastrous".[29]
Jorgensen supports replacing Social Security with individual retirement accounts.[30] In the final debate of the 2020 primaries, candidate Jacob Hornberger accused Jorgensen of "support[ing] the welfare state through Social Security and Medicare". In response, she called Social Security a "Ponzi scheme". She then expressed the desire to allow people to opt out of the program on her first day in office, while emphasizing the constitutional inability of a president to unilaterally end the program without Congress's support, as well as the need for the government to fulfill existing Social Security obligations.[31][32] Under Jorgensen's plan, those who opt out would put 6.2% of their payroll taxes in individual retirement accounts and receive prorated Social Security benefits for existing contributions as zero-coupon bonds for retirement.[33]
Jorgensen calls for deregulation, arguing that it would reduce poverty.[40] She supports cutting government spending to reduce taxes.[41]
Jorgensen supports the freedom of American citizens to travel and trade, calls for the elimination of trade barriers and tariffs, and supports the repeal of quotas on the number of people who can legally enter the United States to work, visit, or reside.[42] In a Libertarian presidential primary debate, Jorgensen said she would immediately stop construction on President Donald Trump's border wall. During another primary debate she blamed anti-immigration sentiment on disproportionate media coverage of crimes by immigrants. She argued that immigration helps the economy and that the blending of cultures is beneficial.[43][44][45][46]
Jorgensen opposes government mask mandates, considering mask-wearing a matter of personal choice. She argues that mask-wearing would be widely adopted without government intervention because market competition would drive businesses to adopt either mask-required or mask-optional policies, allowing consumers the freedom to choose their preferred environment. Jorgensen has invoked the analogy of dollar voting to argue that consumer preferences would shape businesses' policies on face masks in the absence of a government mandate.[48]
Primary campaign
Jorgensen's state-by-state performance in the primaries
In the Libertarian primaries, Jorgensen placed second in terms of overall votes cast, behind Future of Freedom Foundation founder Jacob Hornberger. Jorgensen won a single primary prior to the convention, in Nebraska, on May 12, 2020.[49] After Justin Amash entered and then exited the race Jacob Hornberger lost a significant number of votes and on the fourth round of balloting Jorgensen was nominated. She did not endorse anybody to be her running mate and after three ballots Spike Cohen was nominated. After her nomination, she went on to win the New Mexico primary on June 2, 2020, which had been postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.[50][51]
Jorgensen raised $3,442,156 on her presidential campaign, loaning $9,784 of her own money to her campaign and raising $3,415,793 from individual contributions. She spent $3,420,928 and has $106,132 in outstanding debts with $21,228 of ending cash in hand.[54]
Jo Jorgensen's state-by-state performance across the nation. Percentage shades are rough increments of 0.25%.
Jo Jorgensen received 1,865,535 total votes and 1.2% of the national vote, coming third in the nation. She achieved the Libertarian Party's second strongest historical result to date behind Gary Johnson's 2016 presidential campaign. The highest percentage of votes received by Jorgensen was in South Dakota, where she received 2.63% or 11,095 votes.
^"Annual Report: 1992–1993"(PDF). South Carolina Election Commission. p. 82. Archived from the original(PDF) on October 14, 2020. Retrieved October 11, 2020.
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