Chase Oliver is the national Libertarian Party’s nominee for president. His running mate is Mike ter Maat. The two emerged victorious from the 2024 nominating convention in Washington, D.C., held this past weekend.
Oliver is a 37-year-old Libertarian activist who currently in Atlanta and has a career in business, with an emphasis in human resource management. “
He began his political activism opposing the War in Iraq under George Bush, aligning with the Libertarian Party after an encounter with a Libertarian during the Atlanta Pride Festival in 2010, his web page says.
Oliver ran for Congress for Georgia’s 5th district in 2020, and for Senate in 2022. In the 2022 race, he was credited with forcing a runoff between Raphael Warnock and Herschel Walker; Warnock won that runoff.
“He advocates the adoption of Ranked Choice Voting to avoid future runoffs,” his web page says.
Oliver has described himself as described himself as “armed and gay.” He is pro-choice on abortion, pro-gun rights, and adamantly anti-war. He’s against the death penalty, and also against prosecution of “victimless crimes,” which is a common phrase for prostitution. His platform is at this link.
Oliver has visited all 50 states, coming to Alaska in April to meet with the Alaska Libertarian Party officers in April.
His running mate, ter Maat, was born in Portland, Ore., and is a retired Florida police officer and economics instructor. He ran for the top of the Libertarian ticket, but after being eliminated for president, ter Maat endorsed Oliver and accepted Oliver’s offer to run as his vice presidential nominee.
Alaska’s Libertarian Party was once a stronghold in the country with the most Libertarians per capita and some of the only Libertarians holding public office. Rep. Dick Randolph, for example, was elected to the Alaska House in 1978 and again in 1980, under the Libertarian banner. He had previously served in the House as a Republican.
The Alaska Libertarian Party, however, has lost some of its momentum over the past 20 years. In 2004, when the population of Alaska was 659,000, there were 6,929 registered Libertarians in Alaska. That grew to 7,179 registered members of the party in 2014, but by 2024, with an overall Alaska population of 733,000, the party is back down to 6,659.
