Former Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney is thinking about supporting the Libertarian presidential ticket this year. Well, at least, that’s what the Libertarian ticket says.

In a interview Thursday afternoon with CNN’s Wolf Blitzer, former Govs. Gary Johnson and Bill Weld, of New Mexico and Massachusetts, respectively, said they have had spoken with Romney and he was “considering the possibility” of endorsing the two of them.

Johnson, the Libertarian presidential nominee, also confirmed that the talks occurred since Romney told Blitzer last month that he had not ruled out endorsing the third-party ticket.

Libertarian Gary Johnson says Mitt Romney is "considering the possibility" of endorsing him https://t.co/6OZtrfIwim https://t.co/ZevRSes11U — CNN Politics (@CNNPolitics) July 28, 2016

Johnson said Thursday that he and Romney “have a mutual admiration society” when it comes to Weld, who, like Romney, is a former Republican governor of the Bay State.


“He’s thinking about it, Wolf,” Weld chimed in on the potential Romney endorsement. “And I don’t want to press the point unless and until we get to 15 percent, because then I think the case for it is overwhelming.”

To qualify for the presidential debates this fall, third-party candidates need to register 15-percent support in national polls. Since securing the Libertarian nomination in May, Johnson and Weld have hovered around 10 percent.

Amid historically high discontent with the two major-party nominees, Johnson and Weld, both former Republican governors in blue states, view access to the presidential debates as a trampoline for a rare, viable third-party presidential run.

“I can almost guarantee you, if we get to 15, we’re going to get to 20 percent, and at that point, we are extremely dangerous as a ticket,” Weld said Thursday.

In a previous CNN interview last week, Johnson similarly alluded to support from another high-profile, former Republican governor: Jeb Bush, whose brother Marvin announced his support for the Libertarian ticket in a radio appearance Wednesday.

In Thursday’s interview, Weld broke the news that Jonathan Bush—CEO of Watertown-based Athenahealth and cousin of Jeb Bush, as well as former President George W. Bush—was supporting them financially.


As for Romney, the former governor has said he hasn’t ruled out endorsing the Libertarians, but has expressed the wish that Weld was at the top of the ticket rather than Johnson.

“I think he would be a great president,” Romney said of Weld in June.

“I don’t know Gary Johnson as well,” he added.

As one of the most vocal critics of GOP nominee Donald Trump among his Republican peers, Romney had previously said he would not support Trump or Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. Instead, he said he would work to elect down-ballot Republican candidates for the House and Senate.