Gary Johnson 2016 presidential campaign
Gary Johnson received 4,489,233 total votes and 3.27% of the national vote, coming third in the nation and setting a record for the Libertarian Party's best ever electoral result in the process. In terms of the Libertarian Party's electoral history, he bested Ed Clark's previous record-setting 1.06% percent of the total vote in the 1980 presidential election, as well as his own record-setting 1,275,923 votes in the 2012 presidential election. His share of the national vote was also the highest for a third-party candidate since Ross Perot's 8.4% showing in the 1996 presidential election. The highest percentage of votes received by Johnson was in New Mexico (where he was governor from 1995-2003), where he received 9.3%.
Gary Johnson 2012 presidential campaign
On November 29, 2011, Johnson confirmed reports that he was ending all campaign activities for the New Hampshire primary, citing his inability to gain any traction with the primary's likely voters. Stated Johnson: "It's not happening in New Hampshire. We rode bikes 500 miles across the state, we scheduled town halls – for whatever reason, nobody's really coming out to hear what it is I have to say." Johnson confirmed reports that he was considering a run on the Libertarian Party (LP) ticket. Libertarian Party officials reported that Johnson would make an announcement on his political future on December 28, 2011; "Politico" reported it was expected that he would drop his bid for the Republican nomination and seek the Libertarian nomination instead.
On December 28, 2011, Johnson announced at press conference in Santa Fe, New Mexico that he had withdrawn his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination, and officially declared his candidacy for the 2012 Libertarian Party presidential nomination. During the announcement, Johnson stated, "I'm a Libertarian in belief. I successfully governed as a Libertarian in everything but the name, and I am running for president as a Libertarian." Johnson was quickly identified as the early front-runner for the party's nomination and polled more than seventy percent of votes cast in the California Libertarian Party's straw poll on March 3, 2012.