The crowd of about 400 people, some holding beers in their hands and others hoisting children on their shoulders, roared loudly as Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson called a vote for his competitors “a wasted vote.”

“It’s mostly voting my conscience,” said Anthony Holtz, 39, who had never previously attended a political rally before Thursday’s event at Canterbury Park in Shakopee. “He’s probably not going to win, but I’ll sleep better at night knowing I didn’t vote for the lesser of two evils.” Related Articles Senate GOP plans vote on Trump’s court pick before election

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Still, despite the nearly nonexistent chance of winning the Nov. 8 election, Johnson can still help the state’s Libertarian Party by winning 5 percent of the vote in Minnesota to achieve major party status.

Johnson spoke before his speech about the importance of maintaining momentum to attain major party status both nationally and in Minnesota.

“It’s a Herculean task to get on the ballot,” he said, adding that the funding the party would receive would be a “game-changer.”

On the second floor of Canterbury Park, Johnson’s supporters, who varied widely in age, jammed forward to hear the socially liberal and fiscally conservative — almost fiercely so — former governor of New Mexico shift between the two political ideologies.

“One size fits all, that’s Washington, and it just doesn’t work and it’s not why this country was established,” Johnson said.

He jumped, wildly at times, between topics, touching on the legalization of marijuana and the conflict in Syria. The almost all-white crowd roared wildly at nearly all of the candidate’s talking points, though cheers were noticeably subdued when Johnson chanted “Black Lives Matter.”

Still, for most of the attendees, Johnson’s appearance in Minnesota was a breath of fresh air from mainstream politics that have shifted into full gear with less than two weeks before the election.

“Every election that I’ve voted in, it either has to be one extreme or the other,” said Minneapolis resident Heather O’Conner, 32. “I would say that the majority of voters don’t fall into those categories anymore.”

That idea of falling somewhere in between the two parties, and feeling left out, was heard in both the candidate’s speech and the supporters at the event. Shrinking government’s role in people’s lives, reducing the amount of power that politicians hold and fixing a broken system were oft-repeated and cheered.

O’Conner said she doesn’t agree with all of Johnson’s views, but was impressed by the fact that he openly admitted in his speech that he has made mistakes (an allusion to his Aleppo, Syria, gaffe) and was willing to change his viewpoint when necessary.

And Chelsea Marcott of Richfield, 33, said she wanted to prepare a better future for her young child. Social Security and costly military conflicts — both financially and morally — weighed on her heavily when considering whom to vote for. She said she generally votes for the candidate with whom she identifies the most, and that decision has led her to the Libertarian Party in the last few elections. She said she has noticed this cycle that friends are less fearful of considering a third-party candidate, as opposed to past years.

Johnson cited multiple endorsements by newspapers across the country, saying they showed Johnson and his running mate Bill Weld’s push for the presidency will shape future races for years to come.

“I want everybody in here to understand that we have won in this race,” he said. “If nothing else comes out of this election … we are unmasking just how unfair all this is.”