{"id":615045,"date":"2018-08-16T16:22:02","date_gmt":"2018-08-16T22:22:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=615045"},"modified":"2018-08-21T13:18:17","modified_gmt":"2018-08-21T19:18:17","slug":"johnson-says-hes-ready-to-shake-up-u-s-senate-race","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2018\/08\/johnson-says-hes-ready-to-shake-up-u-s-senate-race\/","title":{"rendered":"Johnson says he&#8217;s ready to shake up U.S. Senate race"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"attachment_615051\"  class=\"wp-caption module image alignnone\" style=\"max-width: 771px;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-large wp-image-615051\" src=\"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/DSC_1306-771x560.jpg\" alt=\"Gary Johnson\" width=\"771\" height=\"560\" srcset=\"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/DSC_1306-771x560.jpg 771w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/DSC_1306-336x244.jpg 336w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/DSC_1306-768x558.jpg 768w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/DSC_1306-1170x850.jpg 1170w, https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/08\/DSC_1306.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 771px) 100vw, 771px\" \/><p class=\"wp-media-credit\">Andy Lyman \/ New Mexico Political Report<\/p><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Gary Johnson<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Gary Johnson is mad as hell and he\u2019s not going to take it anymore.<\/p>\n<p>At least that seems to be the message from the former two-term Republican governor, two-time Libertarian presidential candidate and now Libertarian U.S. Senate candidate in New Mexico.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am angry at the two-party system. I think we\u2019ve all been hoodwinked to believe these are our only choices,\u201d Johnson said at a press conference on Thursday.<\/p>\n<aside class=\"module align-left half type-aside\">\n<h3>About this article<\/h3>\n<p>This article comes from\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/nmpoliticalreport.com\/869883\/johnson-ready-to-shake-up-u-s-senate-race\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">New Mexico Political Report<\/a>,\u00a0a nonprofit news organization\u00a0focused on promoting a greater public understanding of politics and policy in the state of New Mexico.<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n<p>The press conference was the first time Johnson spoke publicly as a U.S. Senate candidate since the Libertarian Party of New Mexico nominated him earlier this month. The party filed paperwork to formally nominate Johnson earlier this week.<\/p>\n<p>Johnson emphatically told a group of reporters how he would focus on free trade (he is against President Donald Trump\u2019s tariffs), immigration (which he thinks Republicans are too negatively focused on) and privatizing the duties of the federal government.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThere\u2019s a private solution to everything,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Conflicting internal polls aren\u2019t clear on Johnson\u2019s chances of winning, and no public poll has been released, but he seems to have put new energy in a race that seemed destined to end in an easy win for Democratic incumbent U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich.<\/p>\n<h3>A whole new race<\/h3>\n<p>In an old office building in downtown Albuquerque, about a block away from Heinrich\u2019s local Senate office, Johnson faced a row of television cameras and said he has never run a negative political ad and doesn\u2019t plan to.<\/p>\n<p>During his 30-minute-long press conference, he stuck to the pledge even when asked about his opponents.<\/p>\n<p>He expressed empathy for his Republican opponent, political newcomer and construction company owner Mick Rich. And he distanced himself from calls from his supporters for Rich to drop out of the race.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s certainly his decision [to stay in the race] and I think, personally, I\u2019ve put him in a horrible situation,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cHe\u2019s been campaigning for a year and a half and I don\u2019t want to say this is pulling the rug out from under him, but I would be angry if I were him.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Johnson called Heinrich a \u201cnice guy,\u201d but criticised him for being a \u201cplaceholder\u201d in the Senate.<\/p>\n<p>Johnson separated himself from either candidate, with an often-heard mantra of Libertarians.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am fiscally conservative &#8212; and socially, I don\u2019t care what you do with your life, as long as what you do with your life doesn\u2019t put me in harms way,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<h3>Johnson, the truth-teller<\/h3>\n<p>While Johnson may be making enemies on the left with his fiscal policy ideas, he is just as likely to make enemies on the right with his social views.<\/p>\n<p>An early proponent of legalizing recreational marijuana, Johnson hasn\u2019t shied away from talking about his own marijuana use. In 2016 Johnson said he refrained from consuming marijuana during his presidential campaign. Now though, he said he \u201coccasionally\u201d uses it, but compared it to people drinking a \u201ccocktail\u201d before bed.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI may be in that category with marijuana,\u201d Johnson said, adding that speaking freely about his \u201coccasional\u201d marijuana shows he\u2019s honest.<\/p>\n<p>But most Democrats would disagree with Johnson\u2019s take on a controversial, proposed U.S. Supreme Court justice replacement.<\/p>\n<p>He said he would probably vote to confirm Trump\u2019s U.S. Supreme Court pick Brett Kavanaugh.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIf I were to vote up or down on that nominee and that was my choice, I would vote up on that choice,\u201d Johnson said, explaining that he likes Kavanaugh\u2019s originalist view of the U.S. Constitution.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt is a constitutional choice and [Kavanaugh] would fall in the bounds of \u2018This is a guy who will follow the Constitution,&#8221; he said.<\/p>\n<p>Of course, it may be too soon to plan on a Johnson win.<\/p>\n<p>As of the last campaign finance reports, Heinrich had almost $4 million in cash on hand and Rich had about $200,000. Johnson had under $2,000 left over from his 2016 president campaign. Even with the support of a recent PAC, created by his former campaign manager, Johnson admits he has some catching up to do.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019m the underdog,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cThis is a longshot. Let\u2019s be honest about it, it is a longshot and it\u2019s dependent on fundraising. It\u2019s not about out-raising your opponent but being on parity.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Johnson\u2019s name recognition in New Mexico is much better than on the national stage, but that could hurt him if he\u2019s trying to woo Democratic voters.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cNew Mexicans haven\u2019t forgotten the damage Gary Johnson\u2019s extreme agenda had on our state \u2013 from cutting the social safety net, to vetoing minimum wage increases, to trying to privatize our education system,\u201d Democratic Party of New Mexico Chair Marg Ellison said. \u201cHe\u2019d bring the same destructive ideas to Washington, as a reliable vote with Republicans to slash Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Johnson doesn\u2019t seem ready to apologize for his historical budget cuts and record number of vetoes as governor, but he did say some of his views have evolved since he was governor.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI feel wiser at 65 than I did at 42,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Gary Johnson spoke publicly for the first time on Thursday about his run for the U.S. Senate as a Libertarian.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":615051,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[2238,297,3310],"class_list":["post-615045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-analysis","tag-2018-election","tag-gary-johnson","tag-libertarian-party"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615045","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=615045"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615045\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/615051"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=615045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=615045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=615045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}