Georgia Senate candidate Chase Oliver is running as a libertarian despite his radical left history.
Oliver’s candidacy is notable because he is polling around three percent in a tight race between incumbent Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) and Trump-endorsed Herschel Walker for Georgia’s all-important senate seat.
Oliver, who tried to position himself as a conservative libertarian in debate, is actually a far-left radical who was an “avid” supporter of former President Barack Obama, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Oliver left the Democrat Party in 2010 when he became unhappy with Obama’s decision to keep Guantanamo Bay open. “‘I said, “You know, I think I found a political home here,”’ he told the Journal-Constitution.
Yet Oliver said in 2012 that if he lived in a swing state he would have voted for Obama. “I have always identified as a progressive Democrat,” he wrote on Facebook.
“I believe in the party platform, and have always voted for the Democratic nominee. But this year is different,” he continued. “This year I am casting my ballot for Gary Johnson, the Libertarian candidate. If you know me, you may be thinking ‘Chase has lost his mind!’ ‘He is a diehard democrat. What is he thinking?'”
In 2020, Oliver campaigned for Congress, during which he advocated for demilitarizing police, ending cash bail, and terminating qualified immunity, according to Chase Oliver for House website.
In 2021, he shared a Libertarian Party Facebook post with the caption, “Proud to be part of the pro immigration party.” The Libertarian Party’s post described illegal migration as a result of not having an “easy, open immigration policies.”
“Restrictive policies on immigration are the chief cause of this current crisis,” the party’s post continued. “If the only problem you have with illegal immigration is that it is illegal, the easiest solution is to make all immigration legal. Problem solved.”
In June, 2022, Oliver admitted he was pro-abortion. “I will never stop being an advocate for bodily autonomy and this includes abortion rights. This isn’t the end,” he wrote on Facebook before the Supreme Court ruled abortion was a state issue.
Oliver also supports transgenderism. In a February 7, 2021, Facebook post, he said he opposed a Georgia state bill that would require transgender children to compete as gender identified at birth.
“I have already called my legislators office and left messages saying I don’t support this bill. I will call again to speak with a person tomorrow to reiterate my position,” he wrote on Facebook. “I urge anyone in Georgia or who have supportive allies in Georgia to please call your lawmakers and tell them you are 100% against this bill.”
In 2022, Oliver also posted a defense of a teacher wearing a “Protect Trans Kids” shirt, questioning if “folks [are] willing to admit they were wrong and this isn’t just about ‘sex education for kindergarten’?”
According to the most recent Georgia Senate race poll, Oliver is garnering 3.4 percent of the vote, compared to Warnock’s 46.1 percent and Walker’s 46 percent of the vote. Only 1.6 percent remained undecided.
Additional polling shows Oliver is pulling 11.1 percent of Hispanic voters, while Walker held 47.4 percent and Warnock had 41.1 percent.
Follow Wendell Husebø on Twitter @WendellHusebø. He is the author of Politics of Slave Morality.
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