Gary Johnson: I wouldn’t be running ‘if there weren’t the possibility of actually winning’

Libertarian presidential hopeful Gary Johnson said Wednesday that he wouldn’t be in the 2016 race if there was no chance of victory, but said getting onto the presidential debate stage will be a crucial hurdle for him to clear.

“I wouldn’t be engaged in this right now if there weren’t the possibility of actually winning,” Mr. Johnson said on MSNBC when asked if he was concerned his candidacy will end up being a “spoiler.”

“But … the only chance a third-party candidate has of winning is to be in the presidential debates,” he said.

The Commission on Presidential Debates has set a polling threshold of 15 percent for candidates to be invited.

“Really key for us right now is just being in the polls that determines who’s in the debates,” Mr. Johnson said.

A recent Fox News poll had Mr. Johnson at 10 percent in a three-way matchup against presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump, who was at 42 percent, and likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, who was at 39 percent.

Mr. Johnson, who received about 1 percent of the popular vote as the Libertarian nominee in 2012, said if he wins the Libertarian Party’s nomination, he’ll be the only third-party candidate on the ballot in all 50 states. Libertarians choose their nominee this weekend at a convention in Orlando.

Mr. Johnson, a former governor of New Mexico, is seeking the Libertarian Party’s presidential nomination with former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld as his running mate.

“Bill Weld has always described himself as a Republican-slash-libertarian,” Mr. Johnson said.

Mr. Weld had endorsed Ohio Gov. John Kasich in the GOP presidential race.

“Give John Kasich credit,” Mr. Johnson said. “He really stepped up and was instrumental in balancing the last federal budget that we’ve had, that we’ve actually had a surplus.

“And at the end of the day, Bill Weld and I both, we’re the small-government guys,” he said. “Republicans serving in heavily blue states and being fiscally conservative, socially liberal and hey, with regard to these military interventions, let’s have a couple of skeptics stand up and perhaps point out that these military interventions have had the unintended consequence of making things worse, not better.”