Gary Johnson is a politician, businessman, and member of the Libertarian Party. He served as the 29th Governor of New Mexico from 1995 to 2003 as a member of the Republican Party nominee and the Libertarian Party Presidential nominee in 2012. Johnson announced his candidacy for President on April 21, 2011 emphasizing the U.S. public debt and a balanced budget through a 43% reduction of all federal government spending. His chosen running-mate Judge James P. Gray of California won the vice-presidential nomination. The Johnson/Gray ticket received 0.99% of the popular vote amounting to 1.27 million votes more than all minor candidates combined. This was the most successful result of a third-party presidential candidacy since 2000. It was the best showing of the Libertarian Party's history by vote count.