Georgia Senate Libertarian candidate says he will not endorse in Walker-Warnock runoff

close

Video

Georgia Senate Libertarian candidate refuses to make endorsement in Walker-Warnock runoff

Fox News' Aishah Hasnie spoke one-on-one with Libertarian Chase Oliver, who ran against Herschel Walker and Raphael Warnock in the Georgia Senate race, garnering 2% of the vote on election night.

Georgia Senate Libertarian candidate Oliver Chase said Thursday that he will not endorse either incumbent Democrat Raphael Warnock or Republican Herschel Walker as they head for a runoff election. 

"I'm not going to tell you how to vote. Your vote is your voice," he told Fox News. "I don't seek to control you, just like libertarians, if elected, would not seek to control you in government."

Chase ran as a Libertarian candidate in the Tuesday midterm and gained national attentional after he garnered some 80,000 votes, snagging 2% of all votes that both Warnock and Walker desperately needed to secure the Senate seat.

Chase Oliver, Libertarian Senate candidate for Georgia, during an interview in Tucker, Georgia, on Wednesday, Oct. 12, 2022.  (Photographer: Ben Hendren/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

GEORGIA SENATE ELECTION BETWEEN WARNOCK AND WALKER HEADED TO RUNOFF, SECRETARY OF STATE'S OFFICE SAYS

"The only thing I'm endorsing is ranked choice voting. But I will say this I'm looking to provide a forum for both candidates to come speak long form," he said.

Chase said he will not encourage voters to get to the polls but instead will focus on changing Georgia’s electoral system and push ranked choice voting – a voting method that allows people to rank their preferred candidates in order on the ballot.

Ranked choice voting, already used in Maine and Alaska, would prevent Georgia candidates from having to meet the 50% threshold in order to win or face a runoff election – which Chase has argued unnecessarily costs the taxpayer millions of dollars.

Republican U.S. Senate candidate Herschel Walker speaks during an election night watch party on Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2022, in Atlanta. | Democratic Sen. Raphael Warnock speaks during an election night watch party on Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2022, in Atlanta.  (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson | AP Photo/John Bazemore)

GEORGIA REPUBLICAN VENTS FRUSTRATION OVER GOP'S UNDERPERFORMANCE: 'WHAT COULD HAVE BEEN'

Georgia’s secretary of state office said this week that as neither Warnock, who secured 49.42% of the vote, nor Walker, with 48.52% of the vote, met the threshold and said a runoff election will now be held on Dec. 6. 

However, the state’s Libertarian leaders warned Wednesday that turnout among those 80,000 Georgian voters who sided with Chase will likely be low. 

"I think it's indicative of the fact that a lot of voters actually stay home on Election Day already," Chase said in response to the premonition. "You know, if not voted was on the ballot every election, they would win nearly every election because a lot of people just stay home because they don't feel represented."

Video

CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP

Chase argued that voters not only in Georgia but across the U.S. are tired of partisan politics and would like to see "more options" when it comes to candidates on the ballot.

"It's up to people to vote for candidates and not necessarily up one party or the other," he told Fox News. "As we provide more choices on the ballot for people, more people will come out to make those choices."