Former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson
on Thursday announced he's running for president as a Republican.
According to USA Today, Johnson
made his announcement on the steps of the State House in Concord, New
Hampshire. A staffer tweeted: “First time to say it. 'I am
running for president.'”
Johnson, a libertarian Republican who
believes in limited government, is the first gay-friendly candidate
to seek the GOP nomination.
The 58-year-old Johnson has been
traveling the country as the spokesperson for Our America Initiative,
a non-profit group devoted to the principles of limited government.
His stops in Iowa and New Hampshire had prompted questions about a
2012 presidential bid.
Johnson believes government should not
intervene in the private lives of individual citizens unnecessarily.
“Government shouldn't be involved in
our lives,” Johnson says in an Our America Initiative video. “It
should protect us from individuals that might do us harm. But
government should really be out of our lives for the most part. Let
us enjoy the freedoms and liberties that we have. Let us be the
individuals that we might want to be.”
But while various sources, including
Fox
News, POLITICO.com
and the New Mexico Independent, have reported that Johnson
supports the legalization of gay marriage, a staffer told On Top
Magazine that Johnson supports “gay unions,” not gay
marriage.
Considering a run at the White House as
a Republican is Jon Huntsman Jr. The
former Utah governor who's spent the past two years serving as a
diplomat for the Obama administration also supports gay rights.
Openly
gay Fred Karger was the first GOP candidate to officially enter the
race.