No American can deny the fact that our great nation is at a moment of political polarity not seen since the Civil War of the middle 19th century. Even at that time though, the Senate consistently had over 10% of its membership belonging to parties outside of the Democrats and Republicans. People believed in people. They believed in ideas. They trusted their lives to the institutions of America. But they did not trust their lives to partisanship.

In recent years, the political machine that is the two party system has successfully snuffed out independent thought. With more and more Americans leaving the two major parties, the most extreme progressives and conservatives are left to run for office. Our choices are becoming more and more radical. Independent voices are often silenced. A growing number of Americans are looking for change, for centrism, for compromise. We dream of taking power from the two major parties and forcing them to work towards the center.

It has been nearly 50 years since the last true third party candidate was elected to the United States Senate. That was Senator James L. Buckley, a Conservative Party member from New York. However, by the time of Jimmy Carter’s presidency, third party Senators were seemingly extinct, with Sen. Buckley losing his reelection bid. In 2018 though, an independent voice in the Senate is more needed than ever to mediate the steep partisan divide, as exemplified by the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation.

Enter Governor Gary Johnson. Once a successful, two-term Republican governor of highly-Democratic New Mexico, Johnson has recently been in the news for mounting two Libertarian campaigns for President of the United States. In 2016, Johnson and his running mate, Governor Bill Weld, accrued more votes than any third party candidate since Ross Perot. After the election, Gov. Johnson went back to his usual routine of intense physical fitness. He spent most of 2017 biking the entire Continental Divide. Johnson has made a name for himself as a physically fit, trailblazing legislator. One of the first elected officials to support the legalization of marijuana, Gov. Johnson became known nationally as a fiscally responsible, socially tolerant leader. He draws views from both Republicans and Democrats. He is a form of the middle ground. And in 2018, Gov. Gary Johnson is running for U.S. Senate against incumbent Democrat Martin Heinrich and little-known Republican nominee Mick Rich.

In recent polling by NSON Opinion Strategy, Johnson was shown to be at 28%, trailing Heinrich, who was at 36%. Meanwhile, Mick Rich was at 10%, and 26% of respondents were undecided. With an endorsement from Republican Senator Rand Paul, and others likely incoming from other elected officials, Johnson has a real chance at becoming the first third party U.S. Senator in over four decades. In what may be a 50-50 locked Senate (including Vice President Pence’s tie breaking vote), a Senator Johnson would be the ultimate arbitrator of legislation. Americans deserve someone to reign in the extremists who now inhabit the highest positions of power in the land. This can be our first step.