The 2020 Libertarian National Convention delegates selected the Libertarian Party nominees for president and vice president in the 2020 United States presidential election. Primaries were held, but were preferential in nature and did not determine delegate allocation. The convention was originally scheduled to be held from May 21 to May 25 at the JW Marriott Austin luxury hotel in downtown Austin, Texas.Winger, Richard (December 11, 2017) On April 26, all reservations at the JW Marriott Austin were canceled in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving the convention oversight committee to seek another venue for a possible July date.

After extensive discussion and debate surrounding the question of whether the party's bylaws permitted it to convene online, the convention was eventually scheduled to be held online from May 22 to May 24 to nominate the party's presidential ticket and in Orlando, Florida, from July 7 to July 12 to conduct other business.

Nominations and balloting Chair election Joe Bishop-Henchman, Tony D'Orazio, Jacob Lamont, Mike Shipley, and Joshua Smith ran for chair of the Libertarian National Committee. Bishop-Henchman and Smith were both incumbent at-large representatives on the committee. Bishop-Henchman was also the incumbent chair of the DC Libertarian Party. Smith previously ran for national chair at the 2018 convention. Incumbent LNC Chair Nicholas Sarwark announced that he would not be running for a fourth term and endorsed Joe Bishop-Henchman.

Endorsements

Results No one won a majority on the first round. Mike Shipley was eliminated, while Tony D'Orazio and Jacob Lamont were eliminated after a motion to proceed to a runoff between the top two candidates passed. Joe Bishop-Henchman was elected on the second round 2020 Libertarian National Committee chair election First RoundCandidateFirst BallotPercentage Joe Bishop-Henchman 425 43.8% Joshua Smith 327 33.7% Tony D'Orazio 86 8.9% Jacob Lamont 60 6.2% Mike Shipley 38 3.9% NOTA 27 2.8% Dulap Nelson (write-in) 4 0.4% Brandon Nelson (write-in) 2 0.2% Alex Merced (write-in) 1 0.1% Totals 970 100%

2020 Libertarian National Committee chair election Second RoundCandidateFirst BallotPercentage Joe Bishop-Henchman 528 54.5% Joshua Smith 397 39.1% NOTA 57 5.9% Tony D'Orazio (write-in) 4 0.4% Nicholas Sarwark (write-in) 1 0.1% Totals 969 100%

Vice-chair election Incumbent LNC Vice Chair Alex Merced indicated that he would not seek re-election.

Presidential nomination Delegates were required to submit nominating tokens for candidates who they wished to place on the ballot for the nomination. 30 Tokens was the threshold for being nominated, with Jo Jorgensen, Jacob Hornberger, Vermin Supreme, John Monds, James P. Gray and Adam Kokesh meeting that mark.

Vice-presidential nomination The Libertarian Party delegates selected the party's vice-presidential nominee the day after they selected the presidential nominee.

Endorsements Nominee

Withdrawn

Theme

In early 2019, the Libertarian Party held a contest, allowing members to decide the 2020 convention theme, charging $5 a vote. On April 11, it was announced that the winning theme was "TANSTAAFL", an acronym for "There Ain't No Such Thing As a Free Lunch", a libertarian economic concept popularized by American writer Robert Heinlein and subsequently Chicagoan school economist Milton Friedman.Safire, William "On Language; Words Left Out in the Cold" New York Times, 2-14-1993 The phrase was also embodied in the Libertarian Party's first logo, adopted in 1972, in an image known as the "Libersign".

The second place theme was Ancapistan, an anarcho-capitalist utopia. Ancapistan, although controversial within the Party, was number one for many weeks during the contest, until in the final remaining hours leading up to midnight it was outspent by a few supporters of TANSTAAFL.

The theme contest raked in $24,007 for the LP to gear towards convention expenses.

Convention speakers Planned speakers According to the convention website, the following notable people were scheduled speakers: Patrick M. Byrne, founder and former CEO of Overstock.com Jim Cantrell, CEO and co-founder of Vector Launch, Inc. Laura Ebke, former Libertarian Nebraska state legislator Jim Gray, jurist and 2012 Libertarian vice-presidential nominee Lisa Jaster, engineer and U.S. Army soldier Larry Sharpe, 2018 Libertarian nominee for Governor of New York (keynote speaker) Joel Trammell, entrepreneur

Keynote speaker dispute Black Guns Matter founder and 2019 candidate for Philadelphia City Council At-Large Maj Toure was initially chosen to be the convention's keynote speaker. This changed in November 2019, when Convention Oversight Committee Chairman Daniel Hayes rescinded Toure's invitation. Hayes cited tweets posted by Toure that were perceived as being transphobic and anti-immigrant. Larry Sharpe, host of The Sharpe Way and 2018 Libertarian candidate for New York Governor was later selected to replace Toure as keynote speaker.

Delegate allocation Delegates to the convention were allocated based on the number of sustaining members of the national Libertarian Party per state, as well as the percentage of the vote cast by state in the 2016 presidential election for Libertarian presidential nominee Gary Johnson. Delegates voted for changes to the national party's platform and bylaws, on members of the Libertarian National Committee and on the party's 2020 presidential and vice-presidential nominees. A total of 1,046 delegates were selected to vote at the convention.

Events On the night of May 21 (EST), the final debates for president and vice-president are being held. Participation was limited to those candidates who had finished in the top five in receiving "debate tokens" from the national convention delegates, and had also received over 10% of those tokens. Jim Gray, Jacob Hornberger, Jo Jorgensen, John Monds and Vermin Supreme all met this threshold and participated in the debate. For the vice-presidential debate, participation was also limited to candidates in the top five with a 10% threshold. Larry Sharpe, Spike Cohen and Ken Armstrong participated in the debate, with John McAfee placing in the top five but not receiving 10% of the tokens.

Schedule Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the balloting for the LP presidential nomination was held online, while the rest of the convention was scheduled be held in person in July. Several practice runs were done the previous weekend.

Sunday, May 17th Final Credentials Committee Report Pre-convention

Thursday, May 21st Presidential debate, moderated by John Stossel. (8:30PM Eastern Time) Vice-presidential debate, hosted by Jim Turney (approx 10PM Eastern Time)

Both were broadcast on the Libertarian Party's YouTube channel.

Friday, May 22nd Convention opens at 6PM Eastern Time Credentials report. Adoption of Agenda.

Saturday, May 23rd Business resumes at 11AM Eastern Time Nomination process for 2020 Libertarian Presidential Nominee

Jo Jorgensen is nominated on the fourth ballot.

Sunday, May 24th Business resumes at 10AM Eastern Time Nomination process for 2020 Libertarian Vice-Presidential Nominee

Spike Cohen is nominated on the third ballot.

Presidential nomination results Nomination round Only candidates who received 30 or more tokens from the delegates qualified for the ballot. 2020 Libertarian National Convention Presidential vote – NominationsCandidateTokensPercentage Jacob Hornberger 218 24.8% Jo Jorgensen 193 22.0% Vermin Supreme 103 11.7% John Monds 95 10.8% Jim Gray 89 10.1% Adam Kokesh 58 6.6% Justin Amash (write-in) 27 3.1% Arvin Vohra 27 3.1% Dan Behrman 18 2.1% Sam Robb 14 1.6% Kim Ruff (write-in) 11 1.3% Sorinne Ardeleanu 9 1.0% Spike Cohen (write-in) 7 0.8% Nicholas Sarwark (write-in) 6 0.7% Larry Sharpe (write-in) 4 0.5% Totals 879 100%

There were several attempts to place candidates who had not received 30 tokens on the ballot anyway, with special attention drawn to an attempt to place "Great Meteor of Death" on the ballot.

Balloting

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, Kokesh was excluded from the second ballot. No candidate achieved the majority on the second ballot, so there was a third ballot vote. Due to finishing last of the five remaining nominated candidates, Gray was excluded from the third ballot. Gray subsequently endorsed Jorgensen in his concession speech while Gray's running mate Larry Sharpe withdrew from the vice-presidential nomination. No candidate achieved the majority on the third ballot, so there was a fourth ballot vote. Due to finishing last of the four remaining nominated candidates, Monds was excluded from the fourth ballot. Monds subsequently endorsed Jorgensen in his concession speech and indicated he would accept the vice-presidential nomination if offered by the delegates.

Jorgensen was nominated on the fourth ballot with 51.1% of the vote. 2020 Libertarian National Convention Presidential vote – First RoundSecond RoundThird RoundFourth RoundCandidateNominationsPercentageNominationsPercentageNominationsPercentageNominationsPercentage Jo Jorgensen 248 24.4%33933.0%39038.1%52451.07% Jacob Hornberger 236 23.2%25725.0%26425.7%28527.8% Vermin Supreme 171 16.8%18417.9%18818.3%20620.1% John Monds 147 14.5%16916.4%17416.7%10.1%Jim Gray 98 9.6%646.2%–––– Adam Kokesh 77 7.6%60.6%10.1%10.1% None of the Above 8 0.8%60.6%70.7%40.5%Nicholas Sarwark (write-in) 5 0.5%10.1%10.1%10.1% Sorinne Ardeleanu (write-in) 2 0.2%––––10.1%John Ammens (write-in) – –––––10.1%Ryan Graham (write-in) – –––––10.1%Godzilla (write-in) – –––––10.1%Laura Ebke (write-in) – –––10.1%–- Justin Amash (write-in) 17 1.7%10.1%––––Darryl Perry (write-in) – –10.1%––––Arvin Vohra (write-in) 3 0.3%––––––Edward Snowden (write-in) 2 0.2%–––––– Rhett Boogie (write-in) 1 0.1%––––––Lincoln Chafee (write-in) 1 0.1%––––––John Stossel (write-in) 1 0.1%––––––Totals1,017100%1,028100%1,026100%1,026100%

Vice presidential nomination results Only candidates who received 30 or more tokens from the convention delegates qualified for the ballot. Nomination round 2020 Libertarian National Convention Vice Presidential vote – NominationsCandidateTokensPercentage Spike Cohen 302 34.6% John Monds 296 33.9% Ken Armstrong 115 13.2% Adam Kokesh 69 7.9% Larry Sharpe (write-in) 21 2.4% Nicholas Sarwark (write-in) 20 2.3% Zoltan Istvan 7 0.8% Vermin Supreme (write-in) 7 0.8% James P. Gray (write-in) 6 0.7% John McAfee 6 0.7% Sam Robb (write-in) 5 0.6% Tulsi Gabbard (write-in) 2 0.2% Michael Heise (write-in) 2 0.2% Ron Paul (write-in) 2 0.2% Totals 874 100%

Balloting Prior to voting, presidential nominee Jo Jorgensen said that she would be voting for John Monds as her vice presidential running mate, but declined to endorse a candidate.

No candidate achieved the majority on the first ballot, so there was a second ballot vote. Due to finishing last of the four nominated candidates, Kokesh was excluded from the second ballot. No candidate achieved the majority on the second ballot, so there was a third ballot vote. Due to finishing last of the three remaining nominated candidates, Armstrong was excluded from the third ballot. Armstrong endorsed Cohen in his concession speech. Cohen received the vice presidential nomination on the third ballot.