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Chase Oliver had to fit his campaign for Senate into the spare hours he had left over after his two day jobs. The 37-year-old ran the operation out of his basement, with four staffers, and help from friends. Every Saturday morning for the last several months, he would wake up early, drive his beat-up Toyota Corolla to a different neighborhood and start knocking on doors. Voters, he says, were very happy that they got to hear from a candidate directly even if they werent voting for me.

Almost 4 million Georgians cast ballots on Tuesday. Most cast them for Sen. Raphael Warnock, or his celebrity challenger, the former football star Herschel Walker. And then there was the small but mighty slice of the electorate that stuck it to the two-party system and threw their support behind Oliver, the Libertarian candidate. He ended up with a little more than two percent of the vote. Warnock, meanwhile, finished 0.6 percent shy of the 50 percent he needed to avoid a runoff.

The Warnock-Walker rematch is now set for December 6. By forcing Warnock and Walker into a runoff, Olivers scrapy candidacy has already had an outsize influence on the midterm elections. And with the ear of more than 80,000 Georgia voters, he may have even more influence left to exert. Oliver is not endorsing either candidate at least not yet. Hes offered to put their slights behind him, and host a forum with both candidates for voters to hear where they stand on issues like weed legalization and immigration reform. Rolling Stone spoke with him about how it felt to be the most influential libertarian in the United States this year.

You ran this campaign out of your basement how does it feel to have, quite possibly, decided control of the Senate?Its humbling to know that over 80,000 people have put their faith in this campaign. Im really honored to have earned their votes. The fact that I was able to do it on a shoestring budget shows just how much dissatisfaction there still is with the two-party system.Editors picks

How much did you spend?I think were hovering around the $10,000, total, for the entire campaign. I would like to say that I took zero PAC money, unlike my opponents. And, unlike my opponents, a majority of my funds actually came from within the state.

Ive heard you describe yourself as a former Democrat how did the Democrats lose you?I started out my political life as an anti-war activist in the wake of the war in Iraq. I was an ardent supporter of Barack Obama in 2008, because he promised to close Guantanamo. He said he was going to stop the drone policies of the Bush administration, and the wars. And he really didnt do any of those things and yet he got a Nobel Peace Prize. That, to me, was very insulting. And what really bothered me was that the anti-war left that was marching with me in the streets while Bush was president, completely disappeared while Obama was president. That drove me out of the Democratic Party.

How did Libertarians win you over?It was in 2010. I was at Atlanta Pride, and the Libertarian Party of Georgia was at the Pride Festival. I started speaking to them and realized that they were a party that broadly speaks for peace and free markets and things like a balanced budget which used to be something that Democrats championed: Bill Clinton championed a balanced budget in the 1990s, and it brought us broad prosperity and a growing middle class. Libertarians preach that message of fiscal sanity, as well as a different kind of foreign policy, social issues like immigration reform and gay rights. I felt I found a political home there.

You have a full-time job, right?This was almost like a side-hustle for you. What did you hope to accomplish with this campaign?I do have a full time job. And then I also have a side job as well. I work in HR for a security company in Washington State. Basically, I do job interviews and fill out HR paperwork all day.

I really wanted to make sure that people understood that we need to have more choices on our ballot and more voices in the discourse because the two-party system is poisonous. Right now we have two major parties that are continuing to pull each other further and further apart and going to the ideologically extreme bases. And that leaves a lot of voters feeling unrepresented. And I wanted to provide a real option for those voters. And I also wanted to highlight how structurally broken the United States Senate is itself. Its basically [party] leadership handing us thousands of pages of bills, and they get voted on the next day. And thats a real problem.Related

Youre facing a lot of criticism right now for spoiling this race. How are you responding to it?A lot of people in this election spouted rhetoric about how we need to preserve and save our democracy. The truth is: our democracy functions better when we have more than just two choices on the ballot. I dont think people should be angry with me for providing another option. We have a runoff for that very reason.

As a libertarian though, does it grate on you the amount of money the government spends on runoff elections like this one? It was something like $6.1 million in Fulton County alone last time.First, Im the only candidate in my election who actually came up with a solution to stop the cost of runoffs in the future: ranked choice voting. I talked about it in my debate with Senator Warnock. His only solution was If you dont want a runoff, you just need to get out and vote for me. I think thats insulting to the independent voters out there who wanted to have another option. As far as the cost of the runoff to the taxpayer, people have been saying, Well, these people who caused the runoff, they need to pay for it. But the truth is Libertarians pay the costs of the Republicans and Democrats primary every election, whether theres a runoff or not, and we dont get to participate. And thats an immediate advantage for Republicans and Democrats. So I dont feel bad about causing it especially when the Libertarian the race is the only one providing the solution.

You ran on legalizing weed, criminal justice reform, tax reform, gun rights, abortion rights which issues are you most hopeful the candidates take up in your absence?Whomever represents Georgia in the United States ought to take up comprehensive immigration reform, because its something that we have been discussing and debating since Ronald Reagan was president, and it hasnt gotten done. We really need a bipartisan group of senators to come together to actually make immigration less costly, more efficient, and more simple. And as far as justice reforms, we really need to see an end to qualified immunity for law enforcement at the federal level, so that states can follow suit.

Youve talked about hosting a forum in which you would interview both candidates. I understand youve reached out to both campaigns about this idea have you heard back?We sent an email out before noon [on Thursday]. We have not yet heard back from either campaign. We will continue to reach out throughout the [runoff].Im leaving the invitation until the day of the election.

What were your impressions of Walker and Warnock as you were campaigning against them?I didnt really focus on the individual campaigns too much as I was trying to do my own thing. I feel like Walker should have participated in one of the debates I would have liked to have seen him on the debate stage alongside myself and Senator Warnock. I felt he did a disservice to his campaign to not show up. At the same time, I also felt Warnock did a disservice to the voters of Georgia by basically ignoring his opponent on stage when we were debating.

Which is worse ignoring you to your face, or refusing to debate you at all?Neither of them are really pleasant. But I think theres something kind of personal when someone is standing a foot to your left and they cant look to the right for an hour. That, maybe, is a little bit more personal. But I think both are a disrespect to the voters of Georgia. I can be personally disrespected, I dont mind, I have a thick skin. But its when the voters are disrespected, that that bothers me.Trending

Will you be voting in the runoff? For who?I havent made a decision yet. Ill probably get out and vote. But I want to hear more from both candidates first, before I make a decision.

Who do you think your 80,000 voters will back? Do you have a prediction?I predict its going to be a high turnout for a runoff thats what I predict. A lot of people are going to get out and vote. I cant say whos gonna win, because if you look at exit polling for my supporters as to where they were going to go, its kind of all over the place. Its pretty evenly split as to who was, ideologically, going to go with the Democrats or Republicans as a second choice. Theres also the factor of: some libertarians just will not vote for a two-party candidate. They are a smaller minority within that pool of voters. [But] thats going to have an effect as well.

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Who Is Chase Oliver? The Person Picking Between Warnock and Walker ...

Unlike his counterpart in Arizona, Erik Gerhardt says he isn't going anywhere.

Gerhardt is the Libertarian Party candidate for Senate in Pennsylvania, which is likely to be one of the closest and most important races in the country. The same could be said of Arizona's Senate race, which was shaken up on Monday by Libertarian Marc Victor's decision to drop out and endorse the Republican in the race, Blake Masters, seemingly in an effort to throw the key election to the GOP.

Despite that, Gerhardt says there's nothing that would make him drop out of the Pennsylvania race to clear the way for either Democratic candidate and former Lt. Gov. John Fetterman or Republican nominee and reality TV star Mehmet Oz.

"They can't promise me anything that would make me happy enough to do so," Gerhardt tells Reason."There's no monetary value to the morale that would be lost with either of [those] candidates winning that seat."

"So, yeah, that's a hard no," he added. "That's not happening."

The closeness of the race in Pennsylvania has already inspired one alternative candidate to drop out. Independent candidate Everett Stern ended his write-in campaign last week and endorsed Fetterman.

That sort of zero-sum politicking seems antithetical to the very point of third parties. It makes little sense to spend the time and effort to get on the ballotin Pennsylvania, Gerhardt needed to get 2,000 signatures to qualifyonly to genuflect to one of the two major parties in the week before the election.

But that's exactly what happened in Arizona.

Although Masters' background includes working in the libertarian movement, he has more recently stated that libertarianism "doesn't work" and embraced more authoritarian positions on a variety of issuesparticularly on immigration and his promises to get "tough" with China.

Victor's announcement sparked another round of an ongoing fight over the purpose and function of the Libertarian Party. Some prominent libertarians including podcast host Dave Smith (who, like Ron Paul, had previously endorsed Masters outright) defended Victor's decision as a strategic move "in the interest of liberty." Others, like former congressman Justin Amash, condemned it.

Chase Oliver, the Libertarian candidate in the hotly contested Georgia Senate race, wrote on Twitter that "any Libertarian who endorsed Masters should be laughed out of the convention hall." That's a shot at both Victor and Smith, who is widely considered a leading candidate for the party's presidential nomination in 2024.

"If you support endorsing Republicans, you ought to be one," Oliver wrote.

There's little doubt that Victor moved the needle in Arizona, where he was polling well into the double-digits at one point and as high as 8 percent in the past week. As Reason's Brian Doherty reported Monday, Victor's campaignraised over $128,000, which is high for a Libertarian candidate, though most of it came from Democratic-leaning organizations that clearly seemed to believe he would take votes from Masters and help Sen. Mark Kelly (DAriz.) win reelection.

In Pennsylvania, Gerhardt is polling less well but the close race between Fetterman and Oz means every vote he gets could be important to the outcome. The Real Clear Politics polling average has Fetterman leading by 1.2 percent despite ongoing concerns about his health and a shaky debate performance last week.

The results could also affect the Libertarian Party's future ballot accessgarnering more than 2 percent of the vote would guarantee the party statewide ballot access in 2024.

Rather than running from the role of being a potential spoiler for Fetterman or Oz, Gerhardt is embracing it.

"I say split the divide and take everything that they don't have," Gerhardt, a 37-year-old general contractor and master carpenter, told Reason on Monday. "And I take some stuff they already do have and I bloody both their noses and then I come back harder next time."

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Will Pennsylvania's Libertarian Senate Candidate Drop Out? 'That's a ...

Republican Gen. Don Bolduc (R-NH) was physically attacked by a libertarian activist before Wednesdays debate, according to opponent Sen. Maggie Hassans (D-NH) campaign staff.

Hassans campaign communications director Kevin Donohoetweetedthat the assailantwhophysically attacked the general outside last nights debate was a Libertarian activist.

Kate Constantini, Bolduc for Senate spokeswoman, told Breitbart News that law enforcement was quickly on the scene and apprehended the individual.

Prior to the debate, an individual in the crowd gathered outside attempted to punch the General and was quickly apprehended and arrested,Constantiniexplained. We are grateful to the quick response from law enforcement on the scene, she said about theGoffstown police department.

As the General said on stage tonight, its time to lower the temperature of the political discourse in this country,she added.

DERRY, NH OCTOBER 15: Republican senate nominee Don Bolduc shakes hands with attendees during a campaign event on October 15, 2022 in Derry, New Hampshire. Bolduc, and Army General who won the GOP primary will take on Sen. Maggie Hassan (D) in November. (Photo by Scott Eisen/Getty Images)

The attack occurred without mention from the debate moderators or WMUR ABC, even though the attack occurred before the debate. The network asked candidates about the rise in violence against politicians, mentioning January 6 and the attack against Paul Pelosi, but failed to mention the incident that occurred minutes before against the Republican candidate.

The debate took place one hour before President Joe Biden condemned Republicans for political violence in a speech at Union Station in Washington, D.C.

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Democrat Hassan Claims Gen. Bolduc's Attacker Was Libertarian Activist

The United States relies too heavilyon our military might in foreign policy. For more than a decade, our country has been waging active wars in the Middle East. This has left our military tired, with several thousand dead, and many more thousands wounded physically and mentally.

A decade ago, the United States entered into nation building thinking that it would help improve corners of the world that terrorists find opportunistic. Sadly, some of the nation building which our country entered into with genuinely good intentions has backfired. We now know that no matter how sophisticated our military is and no matter how much money we spend, nation building is far more complicated that we originally thought. Additionally, it may likely create more terrorists than it quells.

Imagine if China had a military base in Montana. Or Russia had a military base in Texas. How would Americans feel about that? We would likely feel insulted, oppressed, and mad. Some Americans would likely seek to actively opposed those bases. And the escalation would continue. That is what we have seen in the Middle East with our involvement there.

Libertarians believe that war is justified only in defense. We are opposed to a draft. If a war is just and necessary, Americans of all backgrounds will volunteer to fight it. We believe that a draft enforced by law is no different from slavery.

Libertarians believe that American foreign policy should focus more heavily on developing communications among peoples and finding peaceful resolutions to disagreements. We believe in maintaining a military that can defend us well if we are attacked and we believe part of that is ensuring that our troops are not so war-weary as they have been in recent years.

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Foreign Policy | Libertarian Party

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