Scooby-Doo, Who Are You?: The underdogs of the 2024 Presidential election

The 2024 election campaigns are a whirlwind of events, shifts and movements inside political parties and out. With less than a month remaining before the general election, ballots are beginning to go out to constituents. 

Besides Harris and Walz, the Democrat candidates, and Trump and Vance, the Republican candidates, there are a few names on the ballot of lesser notability. 

These underdog candidates are defined as the third party, being primarily independent. However, one candidate set has an official party name of “Libertarian,” or the “The Party of Principle,” according to their website. 

The Libertarian Party candidate, Chase Oliver, was selected after seven rigorous rounds of voting, only gaining a 60.6% majority versus the 36.6% for “none of the above.”

Chase Oliver, 39, while notably younger than the two larger party candidates, uses his differences between other candidates to his advantage.

“I’m under the age of 80, I speak in complete sentences, I’m not a convicted felon … It’s a very low bar, but I’ve managed to clear it,” Oliver said. 

On his campaign website, he highlights his views on a number of major issues such as immigration, healthcare, gun rights, war, foreign policy and inflation. 

He also presents a different perspective outside the two-party system which is beginning to frustrate younger voters. 

“One of the things I’ve heard most is, ‘I became a libertarian when I was a young person… Right now, there are 40 million-plus Gen Z voters who are ready to hear a message outside the two-party system,” Oliver said. 

Mike Ter Maat, his running mate, previously ran to be the presidential nominee for the Libertarian party. After his elimination, he joined Oliver’s campaign when he was selected as the nominee. 

When it comes to Independent candidates, there are two sets. 

The most well-known of the two, Robert F. Kennedy and Nicole Shanahan, have since dropped out of the race. Interestingly, current ballots being sent out still include their names. 

“A day after Vice President Harris officially accepted the Democratic Party’s nomination for president, independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. held a press conference to announce he was suspending his campaign and throwing his support behind Republican nominee Donald Trump,” Czopek said. 

Kennedy no longer wanted his name and his running mate’s name on the ballot, already filing paperwork in numerous states to have his name removed to not draw votes away from Trump, who he endorsed. 

Finally, candidate Chris Garrity and his running mate Cody Ballard also appear on the ballot. Garrity and Ballard have largely avoided mainstream news, with their names not appearing in any recent headlines of election material. 

According to his website, Garrity believes “political parties across the board have been poisonous to our country.” 

He is running on the idea of being a void to the “poisonous political parties” as he references them. 

“If you want party politics out of the Presidency, I hope you’ll share your voice, and vision, and vote with me from now until November 5, 2024.” 

Historically, the two-party system has dominated American politics, presenting a difficult challenge for third-party candidates to overcome. Nonetheless, these candidates present a wild card when it comes to how they will affect election results due to the highly polarized nature of the country.