Jeremy "Spike" Cohen, the Libertarian Party candidate running for vice president, will be speaking Tuesday, Oct. 13, at James Weldon Johnson Park in Downtown Jacksonville.
The campaign event is scheduled to begin at 5:30 p.m. Supporters can register to attend here. The party said social distancing of six feet will be maintained at the event.
Face masks and hand sanitzer will be available for attendees. “Please join us in respecting the safety of fellow participants by voluntarily following best safety practices,” the party said in announcing the event.
Related: More Local, State And National 2020 Election News
Jo Jorgensen is at the top of the Libertarian Party ticket.
Ken Willey, a Libertarian running for State House District 18 in Clay County, will be introducing Cohen at the event.
“I think that people in Jacksonville, and in Florida and around the country, should vote for us because they've seen what they get from Republicans and Democrats. They see the worsening conditions that happen under them and it is because they have a system whereby they think that they can live your life better than you can and that you'll do better if they control you. We believe the opposite," Cohen said. "We believe that you do better when we empower you with your power and your freedom and your money back so you can live your life without all of the barriers and burdens that these pandering politicians and their cronies have put in place to make your life harder.”
The Libertarian Party is the nation’s third largest political party, according to Ballotpedia. "Libertarians strongly oppose any government interference into their personal, family, and business decisions," the party writes on its about page.
Among the party’s platform positions is reducing the national debt by reducing the size of government. The party also favors the repeal of all laws that it sees as creating crimes without victims. Examples of what the party considers to be victimless crimes include gambling, the use of drugs for medicinal or recreational purposes, and consensual transactions involving sexual services.
Cohen acknowledges that the odds are stacked against him and his running mate, but he’s still optimistic about this election.
“If we don’t win, I think we're going to get more votes than we've ever gotten before. We have already seen from the metrics of new people joining the party, that our party's larger than it's ever been before. We are the fastest growing party in the United States," he said. "However the chips fall, I know that we will be in a better position than we were two years ago, much less four years ago. But I run to win, all the way to the end.”
More information about the Libertarian Party and its platform is available on the party’s website. More information on about Cohen and Libertarian party presidential candidate Jo Jorgensen is available on their campaign website.
Bill Bortzfield can be reached at bbortzfield@wjct.org or on Twitter at @BortzInJax.
Brendan Rivers can be reached at brivers@wjct.org, 904-358-6396 or on Twitter at @BrendanRivers.
Photo used under Creative Commons license.
