Gary Johnson — who is a self-made millionaire — also ran in 2012 as a member of the Libertarian Party | AP Photo Libertarian Gary Johnson launches presidential bid, lowers expectations

Former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson has joined the crowded 2016 presidential race. But he's not making any promises about his ability to defeat the likes of Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump.

“I am announcing my candidacy right now for the Libertarian nomination,” Johnson said on Fox Business’ “Coast to Coast” with Neil Cavuto on Wednesday. “I do believe that crony capitalism is alive and well. It’s Democrats and Republicans that contribute to that. I’d like to be that choice that is not going to succumb to that.”


Johnson — a self-made millionaire — also ran in 2012 as a member of the Libertarian Party, which advocates for a radically smaller and less powerful federal government.

In an interview with POLITICO, Johnson vowed to run a completely different campaign than he did in 2012, when he received just 1,275,971 votes, or 0.99 percent of the total electorate. In 2012, he launched his campaign with a splashy event that he said cost thousands; this time, he did it for free on Fox Business, he noted.

"My voice has not been heard, and speaking with a broad brush stroke, that is someone who is fiscally conservative and socially liberal," Johnson said. "At the end of the day, on my deathbed I know that I’m going to reflect on life and believe that I was the voice of reason in all this. Will that result in any better showing than last [election cycle]? Will that result in even being the nominee? Who is to say?"

Libertarians draw as many Democratic votes as they do Republicans, Johnson said, arguing that he could appeal to voters dissatisfied with their options.

"I’m not saying any of this is gonna transpire, but it just seems to me if Hillary is the nominee (which she is going to be) and if Trump is the nominee (and that appears to be the case), I think you can see a lot of attention to, ‘Is this all the choices that we have?'" he told POLITICO.

In an October 2015 blog post, Johnson wrote an open letter titled, "Why I would run for President." In it, he railed against both parties and said that Rand Paul, despite some hopes among libertarians that he would campaign as a different kind of Republican, "has emerged with a vague mix of positions that is clearly not compelling."

"There is a price to be paid for selling out," Johnson wrote, "and he is paying it."

Johnson resigned from his position as director and CEO of Cannabis Sativa, Inc, a marijuana marketing and packaging company, earlier this week, according to Reason.

Cannabis Sativa's mission statement — which was penned by Johnson — says the company "believe[s] cannabis is destined to become the next gold rush and we're prepared to shape its future in a legal environment."

Johnson's views can be hard to pigeonhole. He told POLITICO that he would support a ban on burqas because he believes they are forced under sharia law, not a symbol of religious freedom.

"We need to understand the difference between freedom of religion — which is absolutely guaranteed and I would fervently defend," Johnson said. "Sharia law is politics, it's not religion. If you say that a woman is voluntarily going to be of lesser value than a man, which is in sharia law, can we allow that?"

The likelihood that Johnson's entry will alter the contours of the presidential race is small.

In 2012, the former New Mexico governor was polling between 7 and 13 percent in some key Western states with libertarian-leaning populations — Arizona, Colorado and New Mexico among them — and some analysts wondered if he would take votes away from Republicans. But in the end, the margins of victory for Mitt Romney (in Arizona) and Barack Obama (in Colorado and New Mexico) were too large for Johnson's support to matter.

CORRECTION: Correction: A previous version of this story misstated what time Neil Cavuto's Fox Business show is. It is at 12 p.m.