The 2016 Libertarian National Convention was the gathering at which delegates of the Libertarian Party chose the party's nominees for

president President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

and

vice president A vice president, also director in British English, is an officer in government or business who is below the president (chief executive officer) in rank. It can also refer to executive vice presidents, signifying that the vice president is on ...

in the 2016 national election. The party selected

Gary Johnson Gary Earl Johnson (born January 1, 1953) is an American businessman, author, and politician. He served as the 29th governor of New Mexico from 1995 to 2003 as a member of the Republican Party. He was the Libertarian Party nominee for Presid ...

, a former

Governor of New Mexico , insignia = Seal of the Governor of New Mexico.svg , insigniasize = 110px , insigniacaption = Seal of the Governor , image = File:Michelle Lujan Grisham 2021.jpg , imagesize = 200px , alt = , incumbent = Michelle Lujan Grisham , inc ...

, as its presidential candidate, with

Bill Weld William Floyd Weld (born July 31, 1945) is an American attorney, businessman, author, and politician who served as the 68th Governor of Massachusetts from 1991 to 1997. A Harvard and Oxford graduate, Weld began his career as legal counsel to ...

, a former

Governor of Massachusetts The governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts is the chief executive officer of the government of Massachusetts. The governor is the head of the state cabinet and the commander-in-chief of the commonwealth's military forces. Massachuset ...

as his running mate. The convention was held from May 26–30, 2016, in

Orlando, Florida Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures re ...

Theme

The theme of the 2016 convention was ''#LegalizeFreedom''.

Events

* May 26 – The presidential candidates Marc Allan Feldman,

, John McAfee, Darryl W. Perry, and

Austin Petersen Austin Wade Petersen (born February 19, 1981) is an American writer, political activist, commentator, and broadcaster. He is currently the host of the Austin Petersen show on Real Talk Radio Network in the St Louis region. He's also the hos ...

participated in a political debate at the convention. * May 27 – A debate between the Libertarian candidates seeking the vice presidential nomination was held. On the same day, the candidates for chairperson of the LNC debated. * May 28 – A debate between the Libertarian presidential candidates was held. The debate was televised live by

C-SPAN Cable-Satellite Public Affairs Network (C-SPAN ) is an American cable and satellite television network that was created in 1979 by the cable television industry as a nonprofit public service. It televises many proceedings of the United States ...

. It was moderated by

Larry Elder Laurence Allen Elder (born April 27, 1952) is an American right-wing political commentator and conservative talk radio host. Elder hosts ''The Larry Elder Show'', based in California. The show began as a local program on Los Angeles radio stat ...

. * May 29 – The vote and nomination of the Libertarian presidential and vice-presidential candidates was held and televised by C-SPAN. Multiple ballots extended this. ** In addition to the announcement of the Party's presidential ticket, a chairperson for the LNC was elected at the convention. Incumbent chairman of the

Libertarian National Committee The Libertarian National Committee (LNC) controls and manages the affairs, properties, and funds of the United States Libertarian Party. It is composed of the party officers, five at-large representatives elected every two years at the national ...

Nicholas Sarwark Nicholas Joel Sarwark (born August 27, 1979) is an American attorney and businessman who served as the 19th chair of the Libertarian National Committee (LNC), the governing body of the Libertarian Party. Prior to his election in 2014, he served on ...

was re-elected to the position.

Presidential delegate count

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, McCormick was excluded from the second ballot.

State by state delegate count

No candidate achieved the majority on the first ballot, so there was a second ballot vote. Due to receiving less than 5% of the votes, McCormick was excluded from the second ballot.

Vice-presidential delegate count

Prior to vice presidential balloting, Marc Allan Feldman endorsed Gary Johnson's running mate Bill Weld, and Austin Petersen endorsed Alicia Dearn. Judd Weiss, whom John McAfee had selected as his running mate, withdrew his name from consideration and endorsed William Coley, who had been Darryl Perry's running mate. Consequently, McAfee endorsed Derrick Grayson, who received a write-in vote in each round of the presidential contest but had not campaigned for either the presidency or vice presidency prior to the convention. No candidate achieved the majority on the first ballot, so there was a second ballot vote. Due to finishing last of the five nominated candidates, Dearn was excluded from the second ballot. Dearn then endorsed Weld. Additionally, both Coley and Grayson withdrew their names and endorsed Sharpe. However, Grayson withdrew his candidacy after the second ballots had been handed out, and therefore his name remained on the ballot as a valid candidate.

Speakers

Notable speakers included: * Craig Bowden, 2016 candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives from

Utah's 1st congressional district Utah's 1st congressional district serves the northern area of Utah, including the cities of Ogden, Logan, Park City, Layton, Clearfield, Salt Lake City, and the northern half of the Great Salt Lake. The current member of the United States Ho ...

* William Coley, 2016 Libertarian vice presidential candidate * Judge Jim Gray, 2012 Libertarian Vice Presidential nominee *

, lawyer, writer and radio and television personality who calls himself the "Sage of South Central," a district of

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

, California *

Bruce Fein Bruce Fein (born March 12, 1947) is an American lawyer who specializes in constitutional and international law. Fein has written numerous articles on constitutional issues for ''The Washington Times'', ''Slate.com'', ''The New York Times'', ' ...

, lawyer specializing in

constitutional A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these prin ...

and

international law International law (also known as public international law and the law of nations) is the set of rules, norms, and standards generally recognized as binding between states. It establishes normative guidelines and a common conceptual framework for ...

* Sharon Harris, libertarian political activist and president of the Advocates for Self-Government, author *

Carla Howell Carla Howell (born 1955) is an American politician, small government advocate and activist. She was the Libertarian Party of Massachusetts candidate for Massachusetts State Auditor in 1998, U.S. Senate in 2000, and Governor in 2002. She then serv ...

, political activist and

small government Libertarian conservatism, also referred to as conservative libertarianism and conservatarianism, is a political and social philosophy that combines conservatism and libertarianism, representing the libertarian wing of conservatism and vice ver ...

advocate *

Adam Kokesh Adam Charles Kokesh (; born February 1, 1982) is an American libertarian political activist, radio host, and author. Kokesh was a U.S. 2020 Libertarian presidential candidate running on the single-issue platform of an "orderly dissolution of th ...

, Iraq War veteran, anti-war and libertarian activist, and author *

Tim Moen Tim Moen () is a Canadian libertarian podcaster, blogger, activist and politician. He was the leader of the Libertarian Party of Canada from May 2014 to August 2021. Outside of politics, he is a firefighter, paramedic, business owner and filmmak ...

, Leader of the Libertarian Party of Canada since May 2014, firefighter, paramedic, business owner, filmmaker, and volunteer * John Moore, former member of the

Nevada Assembly The Nevada Assembly is the lower house of the Nevada Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Nevada, the upper house being the Nevada Senate. The body consists of 42 members, elected to two-year terms from single-member district ...

representing District 8, realtor * Jordan Page, singer-songwriter and musician *

Jim Rogers James Beeland Rogers Jr. (born October 19, 1942) is an American investor and financial commentator based in Singapore. Rogers is the chairman of Beeland Interests, Inc. He was the co-founder of the Quantum Fund and Soros Fund Management. He wa ...

, Chairman of Rogers Holdings and Beeland Interests, Inc., Co-founder of the

Quantum Fund The Quantum Group of Funds are privately owned hedge funds based in London, New York, Curaçao (Kingdom of the Netherlands) and Cayman Islands. They are advised by George Soros through his company Soros Fund Management. Soros started the fund i ...

, businessman, investor and author * Jeffrey Tucker, economics writer of the

Austrian School The Austrian School is a heterodox school of economic thought that advocates strict adherence to methodological individualism, the concept that social phenomena result exclusively from the motivations and actions of individuals. Austrian scho ...

, advocate of

anarcho-capitalism Anarcho-capitalism (or, colloquially, ancap) is an anti-statist, libertarian, and anti-political philosophy and economic theory that seeks to abolish centralized states in favor of stateless societies with systems of private property en ...

and

Bitcoin Bitcoin (abbreviation: BTC; sign: ₿) is a decentralized digital currency that can be transferred on the peer-to-peer bitcoin network. Bitcoin transactions are verified by network nodes through cryptography and recorded in a public distr ...

, publisher of

libertarian Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's en ...

books, conference speaker, and internet entrepreneur * Dr.

Thomas Woods Thomas Ernest Woods Jr. (born August 1, 1972) is an American author and libertarian commentator who is currently a senior fellow at the Mises Institute.Naji FilaliInterview with Thomas E. Woods, Jr. Harvard Political Review, August 16, 2011. Wo ...

, historian, author, and senior fellow of the

Mises Institute Ludwig von Mises Institute for Austrian Economics, or Mises Institute, is a libertarian nonprofit think tank headquartered in Auburn, Alabama, United States. It is named after the Austrian School economist Ludwig von Mises (1881–1973). I ...

Incidents

* On May 29, candidate for chairman of the LNC James Weeks took stage and stripped down to a

thong The thong is a garment generally used as either underwear or in some countries, as a swimsuit. It may also be worn for traditional ceremonies or competitions. Viewed from the front, the thong typically resembles a bikini bottom, but at the ...

, saying "I thought we could use a little bit of fun." He danced on the stage before announcing the suspension of his bid for chairperson. He was booed loudly by the delegates and removed from the convention. The incident was streamed live on C-SPAN. This took place during the tabulation of votes on the second ballot for vice president, and many delegates attempted to make a motion to expel Weeks from the party. This was cut short when chairman Nicholas Sarwark moved to set the matter aside and announce the results of the vice presidential nomination. Weeks was later expelled from the Libertarian Party of Michigan, which disavowed all support for his candidacy for county Sheriff. * After losing the nomination to Gary Johnson, Austin Petersen endorsed the nominee and gave him a plastic replica of a type of pistol owned by George Washington. Several delegates attending the convention later reported seeing Gary Johnson, the party's nominee, tossing the gift in the garbage. It was returned to Petersen by a family that attended the convention. A spokesman for the campaign apologized on behalf of Gov. Johnson, and explained the frustration arose from Petersen handing Johnson the replica before immediately launching into an attack on Johnson's endorsement of Weld for vice president. Petersen expressed a desire to move past the incident, encouraged his supporters to do the same, and confirmed that his endorsement of Johnson for the general election remained unchanged.

References

External links

Official 2016 Convention web site

Official party web site
{{DEFAULTSORT:2016 Libertarian National Convention 2010s in Orlando, Florida Libertarian National Convention Libertarian National Convention Gary Johnson John McAfee Libertarian Party (United States) National Conventions Libertarian National Convention Political conventions in Florida Libertarian National Convention