Bill Weld Sure Looks Like He Wants to Run for President

William Weld by Gage Skidmore on Flickr/Creative Commons

Bill Weld, the former Republican governor of Massachusetts who dabbled in presidential politics this cycle as Gary Johnson’s running mate, may not have given up his ambitions for the White House.

Could Weld be gearing up for a 2020 run as a Libertarian? It really seems like it, or at least that’s the impression Weld gave in a recent interview with Matt Welch, editor-at-large of the Libertarian monthly Reason.

While he isn’t saying specifically that he’d run himself, he has been stressing that he believes the time is right for a Libertarian to succeed, and he’s been playing an active role in trying to make that happen. Weld, Welch reports, has been endorsing Libertarian candidates, like Massachusetts auditor candidate Dan Fishman, as well as angling for changes to the Electoral College system that would benefit the party, and hunting for wealthy donors aligned with their mission.

“I really have been doing a lot reading and thinking about what it means to be the Libertarian Party, and what possible achievements and upsides the Libertarian Party could” accomplish, Weld said Sunday at a convention for Libertarians in California, according to Reason. “I’m sincere when I say that I’m not talking about who is going to do the Libertarian race in 2020; I’m just here to say that I think that’s a race that has some real potential to go the distance, and the sooner we all wrap our minds around that, the better.”

Are Libertarians ready for him, though? Reason notes there is still some lingering resentment about Weld after his 2016 run, during which he conspicuously prioritized keeping Trump out of office and, more or less, getting the Democratic nominee elected, and was accused of not being invested enough in Johnson’s longshot bid for the presidency.

Then again, maybe the Libertarians should be excited about a candidate who can remember what Aleppo is.