2016 Libertarian Party presidential debates and forums

The following presidential candidates participated in debates: Thomas Clements, JD Donaghe, Marc Allan Feldman, Cecil Ince, Gary Johnson, Steve Kerbel, John McAfee, Kevin McCormick, Darryl W. Perry, Austin Petersen, Derrick Michael Reid, Jack Robinson, Jr., Sam Sloan, Rhett Smith, Shawna Sterling, Vermin Supreme, Joy Waymire, and Heidi Zeman.

The candidates featured in the debate were former Republican Governor of New Mexico Gary Johnson, "The Libertarian Republic" founder Austin Petersen and anti-virus software developer John McAfee; John Stossel moderated the debate which featured questions from himself, Fox media personalities (second part) and people who submitted their questions on social media.

On the contrary, Petersen said that "the federal government should have absolutely no role [in determining the legality of drugs]" and that it should be left to the states.

While there was some disagreement over abortion, Social Security, and gender-pay equality, all of the candidates on the stage agreed on the need to balance the federal budget in order to reduce the national debt.

"[citation needed] A notable moment was when Johnson kissed McAfee on the cheek, in stark contrast from the infighting from the two major parties.

[29] Part two of the Libertarian Party presidential debate was broadcast on April 8 at 21:00 Eastern Time on the Fox Business Network.

During the second hour of the debate, candidates took questions about immigration, free trade, jobs, using phones to prevent non-state terrorism (specifically the Apple case in San Bernardino, California), environmental issues by the government, Keystone XL pipeline, eminent domain, drug legalization, drug addiction, prostitution, protecting the Constitution, where they agreed almost identically.

[34] On May 16, the three leading Libertarian candidates (Johnson, Petersen and McAfee) participated in a debate held in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Longtime Libertarian and entertainer Penn Jillette hosted the debate, which was aired by TheBlaze cable channel on May 20.

The candidates were asked questions by other celebrities, including comedians Drew Carey, Carrot Top, Jeff Ross as well as Dee Snider of Twisted Sister and The Five co-host Greg Gutfeld.

On the issues Johnson said, "The fact that we have the highest incarceration rate of any country in the world, the War on Drugs is really about Black Lives Matter.

[39] On May 17, Freedom Gulch hosted a Libertarian vice-presidential debate on Google Hangouts featuring the candidates: Will Coley, Alicia Dearn, Larry Sharpe, and Judd Weiss.

It was a two-tiered debate, with the top tier featuring candidates William Weld, Will Coley, Larry Sharpe, Alicia Dearn, and Judd Weiss.

[44] CNN again hosted a Libertarian town hall, on August 3, featuring Gary Johnson and Bill Weld,[44] this time moderated by Anderson Cooper.

The town hall was viewed by more than 1.6 million viewers and helped lead the network to a cable news first-place rating in the 18-49 category, scoring a 0.5.

[45] On August 12, Gary Johnson participated in a Presidential Election Forum at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas during the Asian American Journalists Association's annual conference.

[46] On August 17, Fusion hosted a forum featuring Johnson and Weld and was moderated by Jorge Ramos and Alicia Menendez.

[47] On August 26, the Fox Business Network aired a town hall featuring Gary Johnson and William Weld and hosted by John Stossel.

[48] On September 12, Gary Johnson and William Weld participated in a town hall at the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia, moderated by Michael Smerconish and broadcast on the Sirius XM channel P.O.T.U.S.

[50] On September 28, MSNBC aired a town hall featuring Gary Johnson and William Weld, moderated by Chris Matthews and taking place at the University of New Hampshire.