Who is Chase Oliver? The presidential candidate who could cost Trump or Harris the 2024 election

With Kamala Harris and Donald Trump in a neck-and-neck race that could be decided by just a few thousand votes in seven key battleground states, third-party candidates could decide the race for either the Republicans or the Democrats.

In fact, third parties are most often mentioned when there is the potential for them to act as spoilsports, meaning that the number of votes they receive could swing the election in favor of one of the two serious candidates by taking it away from the loser .

With the race between Harris and Trump essentially a fluke, keen political observers have pointed out that Libertarian presidential candidate Chase Oliver could be the deciding factor in the race.

Oliver, 39, is on the ballot in all seven swing states: Arizona, Georgia, Nevada, North Carolina, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.

Libertarian presidential candidate Chase Oliver has the potential to change the outcome of the 2024 election, even if he doesn't come close to winning the White House

Oliver has a chance to influence the results because he is voting in all seven swing states, where Donald Trump and Kamala Harris are incredibly close

“Libertarians and third-party candidates like Chase can change the outcome of elections that are razor-thin in swing states,” Lars Mapstead, who ran against Oliver for the party’s presidential nomination this cycle, told The Hill.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. paused his campaign to join Trump's movement in August and urged his supporters to support the former president regardless of whether they live in a swing state or not.

Trump said Kennedy would play a “big role in the government” if elected.

During his raucous rally at Madison Square Garden last weekend, Trump suggested he let the prominent anti-vaxxer “go wild” on health.

“I'm going to let him have some fun when it comes to health.” I'm going to let him have some fun when it comes to food. “I’m going to let him go wild with the medication,” Trump said.

There was a time when pundits warned that RFK Jr., who was more anti-establishment, could have a spoiler effect.

The best RFK Jr. ever polled was above 20 percent support, but that was in December and January, when it was still a neck-and-neck matchup between Joe Biden and Trump.

But RFK Jr., who dropped out of the race and endorsed Trump, was also a big boon for Oliver, and some said the environmental lawyer Kennedy-Sprout coalition could join him.

Meanwhile, Green Party frontrunner Jill Stein, who Democrats had hoped would drop out, is certain to siphon votes away from Vice President Kamala Harris in one of the closest elections in history, largely because of the conflict in the Middle East.

While Stein ran for president in 2012, it wasn't until 2016 that she was remembered for the condemnation she received after Hillary Clinton's defeat, as more people voted for the Green Party hopeful than Clinton lost in Michigan and Pennsylvania.

Just 1,000 ballots for Stein in one of the six battleground states where she is on the ballot — she is not running in Nevada — could tip the election.

With Oliver now one of two main alternatives for voters, it's unclear whether his presence will hurt Harris or Trump more.

But he has a history of forcing extremely close races in his home state of Georgia — one of the most-watched election night battlegrounds — where he ran for Georgia's 5th Congressional District in 2020 and for the Senate two years later.

Oliver had a profound impact on the 2022 Georgia Senate special election, in which Democrat Raphael Warnock (pictured) fought to retain his seat

Herschel Walker, a former NFL running back, wanted to replace Warnock

Because it was a crowded field of seven candidates, Oliver had virtually no impact on the congressional election, receiving just 712 votes, or just 2 percent.

But in Georgia's special Senate election in 2022, Oliver had a huge impact.

Democrat Raphael Warnock was fighting to keep the seat he had won just a year earlier, and Republican candidate Herschel Walker, a former NFL running back, was seeking to oust him.

Oliver subtracted enough votes (again, about 2 percent) that neither Warnock nor Walker could reach the 50 percent needed to win outright.

There was a runoff election in December, which Warnock won with just over 51 percent of the vote.

If Oliver can repeat that share of the vote in Georgia and a few other swing states, it's almost certain he will have a significant impact on the race.

The latest New York Times/Siena poll showed Harris and Trump separated by less than two percentage points in the crucial states of Georgia, Pennsylvania and Michigan.

In North Carolina and Wisconsin, Harris led Trump by two percentage points.

Chase Oliver is pictured waiting in line to vote at the Tucker-Reid H. Cofer Branch of the Dekalb County Public Library on the first day of early voting in Tucker, Georgia

Pennsylvania, seen as a must-win for both campaigns but especially for Harris, may be where Oliver will have the most influence.

Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson won nearly 150,000 votes in Pennsylvania in 2016, and Trump won the state by just over 44,000 votes.

Oliver has portrayed himself as an anti-establishment voter who actually cares about Americans' freedoms.

As Biden trailed Trump in the polls before dropping out in July, Oliver, who is openly gay, also branded himself as a generational change candidate.

“I am under 80 years old, I speak in full sentences, I am not a convicted felon,” Oliver said before Harris became the Democratic nominee. “It’s a very low bar, but I managed to overcome it.”

Oliver distinguished himself from Harris, who is much younger than Biden, by proposing the abolition of the Federal Reserve.

Democrats are concerned about Oliver's potential appeal with voters in Michigan and Wisconsin, two states where Harris and Trump are neck-and-neck

He believes this would reduce government bureaucracy and prevent further U.S. debt.

“When the government prints trillions of dollars out of thin air, it devalues ​​the dollar that is in your wallet, the dollar that you take to the grocery store to fill the cart, the dollar that you use to pay your rent.” the dollars you use to run your business. And it’s time for it to stop,” Oliver said at an event in Las Vegas in July.

He also tried to differentiate himself from Harris by proposing his own idea for alleviating rising housing costs.

Among other things, Harris offered $25,000 down payment assistance to some first-time homebuyers.

Meanwhile, Oliver argues that the government shouldn't get involved at all, which would contradict his libertarian beliefs.

“You don't really own your house because you pay property taxes, and if you don't pay those property taxes, the government can seize the house that appears to be yours,” Oliver said at a debate with other third-party candidates in October.

Some Democrats believe Oliver's message that government is an obstacle, coupled with his pro-healthcare campaign, could resonate well with Wisconsin voters.

Oliver's strong opposition to Israel's war in Gaza could mean he will have significant influence in Michigan, a swing state with a sizable Arab American and Muslim population.