First Four Facts You Need To Know About Dr. Jo Jorgensen, the Libertarian Party's Presidential Candidate
Former Vice President Joe Biden and President Donald Trump aren’t the only two contenders for the presidency in the 2020 election. During the Libertarian Party’s first-ever virtual presidential nominating convention Saturday, delegates nominated Dr. Jo Jorgensen as the Libertarian candidate for president of the United States.
Jorgensen received 51 percent of the vote with 524 votes, according to Ballotpedia.
According to a release sent out by the national Libertarian Party, “her ground-breaking run will give voters a chance to elect a candidate committed to freedom and liberty.”
We wish to congratulate our now fully nominated ticket for the White House in 2020, Dr. @Jo4liberty and @RealSpikeCohen.#Election2020 #memorialdayweekend2020 #Libertarian pic.twitter.com/nKHqFyl9Sp
— Libertarian Party (@LPNational) May 24, 2020
Here are four things you need to know about Dr. Jo Jorgensen:
1. Dr. Jorgensen received her doctorate from Clemson University.
In 1979, Jorgensen graduated from Baylor University with a bachelor’s degree in psychology. The next year, she graduated from Southern Methodist University with an MBA, according to her campaign website.
The Libertarian candidate then received her Ph.D. in industrial/organization psychology from Clemson University in 2002.
Most recently, Jorgensen has been working as a senior lecturer in psychology at Clemson, teaching classes including “Introduction to Psychology,” “Pursuing Happiness” and “Social Psychology,” according to her university faculty profile.
2. Dr. Jo Jorgensen is an entrepreneur and a hockey player.
According to Jorgensen’s campaign, the presidential candidate has a history of entrepreneurialism.
After working as a marketing representative for IBM, she started her own software sales business in 1983. According to her Clemson profile, she also co-founded a software duplication firm called DigiTech, Inc.
She eventually, however, put her career on hold to raise her two children.
In 2002, she founded a new company — a business consulting company through which she continues to work with select clients.
And what does the working mother-of-two do in her free time? According to her Twitter bio, Jorgensen is also an “avid hockey player.”
3. She was the Libertarian Party’s vice presidential nominee in 1996.
Dr. Jo Jorgensen is a lifelong member of the Libertarian Party. Her support for libertarian candidates goes back as far as the 1980 presidential election in which she voted for Ed Clark.
In 1996, Jorgensen was the Libertarian Party’s vice-presidential nominee alongside presidential nominee Harry Browne.
The Libertarian candidate’s campaign website distances her equally from both Trump and Biden, saying, “If you would be better off with the policies I’ve outlined rather than those of Biden or Trump, then demonstrate it by giving me your support and your vote.”
The presidency is also about a lot more than picking at petty issues like these “he said, she said” tactics. The biggest decisions in the world start with what truly matters to the people, not whose golfing. #jojo2020 #teamjo #votegold https://t.co/CLk6qAxRX5
— Jo Jorgensen (@Jo4liberty) May 25, 2020
With real pressing issues that every day Americans care about, it’s important we address those above petty political rivalries that don’t help the people. #jojo2020#teamjo#votegold https://t.co/1zGej3PLdE
— Jo Jorgensen (@Jo4liberty) May 25, 2020
4. Policies important to Dr. Jo Jorgensen include a free market health care system and Social Security reform.
Several promises and policy proposals are outlined on the Dr. Jo Jorgensen campaign website.
Her many proposals include: vetoing several bills that increase spending, borrowing and regulations; balancing the budget; making the FDA advisory rather than “dictatorial”; and launching a competitive health care market in the place of Medicare.
“I want to shout from the rooftops that we do not have a free market system in health care and how if we tried free markets, they would work,” Jorgensen explained in an interview with Reason.
One of her most notable policy proposals is to “fix our unsustainable Social Security system” based on a plan similar to CATO Institute’s 6.2 Percent Solution.
The Social Security system Jorgensen proposes would allow individuals who forego Social Security to divert a portion of payroll tax to individually owned, privately invested accounts.
Her proposal also presents a choice for Americans to “opt-out” of Social Security in order to “take complete control of your financial future.” Although many would still opt-in to Social Security, this policy could lessen the overall tax burden of the program.
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