John McAfee 2020 presidential campaign


The 2020 presidential campaign of John McAfee, anti-virus software pioneer and cryptocurrency investor, was formally launched on June 3, 2018.
On March 4, 2020, McAfee ended his presidential campaign and endorsed Vermin Supreme, and begun running for the 2020 Libertarian Party vice-presidential race.
The next day, McAfee tweeted that he was re-entering the 2020 Libertarian presidential primary after none of the other Libertarian candidates would “accept as their VP running mate.” At the 2020 Libertarian National Convention, McAfee was not nominated for president or vice-president.

Background

McAfee previously ran for president in 2016. He was initially the candidate for the Cyber Party, a party which he had created. In December 2015, McAfee re-announced his candidacy under the Libertarian Party. During the campaign, McAfee was considered a front-runner for the nomination, and participated in the first televised Libertarian primary debates. At the convention, McAfee came in third place, with 14.1% of the delegates on the second ballot, behind Austin Petersen and the Libertarian Party nominee Gary Johnson. Following the convention, McAfee declined to endorse the Johnson campaign, and announced that he would not run for office again.

Campaign

Contrary to his assertion at the 2016 convention, McAfee announced on June 3, 2018 via Twitter that he would run for president again in 2020, either with the Libertarian Party or under the banner of a party of his own creation. On January 22, McAfee announced via Twitter that he would be continuing his campaign "in exile", following reports that he, his wife, and four of his campaign staff were being indicted for tax-related felonies by the IRS. McAfee indicated that he was in "international waters", and had previously tweeted that he was on his way to Venezuela. The IRS has not commented on the alleged indictments. On June 29, McAfee tweeted that his campaign headquarters was relocated to Havana, Cuba. Around the same time, McAfee defended Communist revolutionary Che Guevara on Twitter, putting himself at odds with the Libertarian Party, with Libertarian National Committee chairman Nicholas Sarwark saying, "I hear very little buzz about McAfee this time around...making a defense of Che Guevara from Cuba may ingratiate him with the Cuban government, but it didn't resonate well with Libertarians."
In April, McAfee announced that he would be the running mate of Adam Kokesh, a competitor for the nomination, and also endorsed him for president, though McAfee decided to continue his campaign for the presidency.
In May, Jo Jorgensen was nominated at the 2020 Libertarian National Convention, thus suspending McAfee's campaign.