Amid the American voters thinking Hillary Clinton is a criminal and Donald Trump is a racist bigot, Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson just earned himself a pretty substantial endorsement.
The Richmond Times-Dispatch, the primary and capital newspaper out of Virginia has decided to back Johnson after a meeting amongst the editorial board. Coming out, the paper referred to Johnson as “the most capable and ethical candidate running this year.”
Gary Johnson is a former, two-term governor of New Mexico and a man who built from scratch a construction company that eventually employed more than 1,000 people before he sold it in 1999. He possesses substantial executive experience in both the private and the public sectors.
More important, he’s a man of good integrity, apparently normal ego and sound ideas. Sadly, in the 2016 presidential contest, those essential qualities make him an anomaly — though they are the foundations for solid leadership and trustworthy character. (At 63, he is also the youngest candidate by more than half a decade — and is polling well among truly young voters.)
…The Times-Dispatch editorial board began to explore the possibility of endorsing Johnson and his running mate, former Massachusetts Gov. William Weld, several weeks ago, as scandal continued to engulf the Democratic nominee while the Republican candidate’s statements and behavior daily piled distress upon puzzlement.
Relatively speaking this is a huge endorsement for the Johnson/Weld ticket who’s looking to earn themselves a spot on the all important presidential debate stage beside Clinton and Trump. Beyond that this could earn that Libertarian ticket more traction as questions surrounding Clinton’s FBI meetings and emails persist while Trump continues to take pretty much every position on the core issues within his own campaign.
Notably too, the Richmond Times-Dispatch has backed the Republican nominee in every election since 1980. They’re also the largest paper to ever endorse a Libertarian candidate.