The Republican and Democratic presidential tickets are now set for November’s general election. But some Kentuckians heard from a third-party candidate for commander-in-chief during this year’s Fancy Farm Picnic, an event that is typically a battle of red vs. blue.
Libertarian Chase Oliver became just the second presidential candidate – and the first third-party one – to speak in the history of the Fancy Farm Picnic in far western Kentucky this past weekend.
Former Alabama governor and presidential candidate George Wallace spoke at the annual Graves County event in 1975. Vice presidential candidates Lloyd Bentsen and Al Gore also made campaign stops in Fancy Farm in 1988 and 1992, respectively.
An NPR/PBS News/Marist poll published Tuesday found that less than 1% of voters surveyed would vote for the Libertarian in the general election.
Oliver said he was running to inspire voters to challenge the country’s two-party political system.
“We need to change the attitude that you have to pick the winner, that you have to pick the side that you think is going to win, as opposed to the side that you think best represents you,” Oliver said. “I think we also need to overall change the way we vote, move away from plurality voting towards ranked choice voting or approval voting, because that removes the so-called spoiler effect.”
The 39-year-old Libertarian shared the political stage at the Fancy Farm Picnic with figures like U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, who was first elected to the office in 1984. Oliver argued that it was time for a new generation of leaders in Washington.
“This is the problem of the two party system. It keeps power ingrained. It keeps people stuck in this two party morass movement. I dare you to vote differently,” Oliver said.
Oliver said that he’s a candidate who believes people can make better decisions for themselves than the government. He told a crowd of several hundred people at the St. Jerome Catholic Church picnic grounds that he is pro-Second Amendment and believes in school choice policies. He also called for a ceasefire in Gaza after protesters chanted in support of one during McConnell’s speech earlier in the day.
Around 16,000 voters in the Commonwealth are registered as Libertarians, according to data from the Kentucky Secretary of State’s office.
Former Kentucky attorney general Daniel Cameron spoke at Fancy Farm as a surrogate for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s campaign. No representative from Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign spoke, although emcee Jim Sichko said the Fancy Farm political committee “worked diligently” to try to bring a spokesperson from the Democratic presidential campaign to the event.
