--- title: Libertarian Bill Weld Says He Will Focus on Blocking Trump description: Bill Weld wants to put Trump in third place—or at least make sure Clinton wins canonical: https://time.com/4518881/bill-weld-libertarian-donald-trump/ author: Sarah Begley article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-10-05T00:46:47.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:45:32.074Z article:section: Politics og:title: Bill Weld Says He Will Focus His Efforts on Blocking Donald Trump og:description: Weld wants to put Trump in third place—or at least make sure Clinton wins og:url: https://time.com/4518881/bill-weld-libertarian-donald-trump/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5bdb006c50bac00a/6988a8ac2dce01b1559eae52/bill-weld.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4139 og:image:height: 2328 og:image:alt: Libertarian Presidential Candidate Speaks At University Of Utah In Salt Lake City og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Bill Weld Says He Will Focus His Efforts on Blocking Donald Trump twitter:description: Weld wants to put Trump in third place—or at least make sure Clinton wins twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5bdb006c50bac00a/6988a8ac2dce01b1559eae52/bill-weld.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Libertarian VP Nominee Bill Weld Says He Will Focus His Efforts on Blocking Donald Trump > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Oct 5, 2016 12:46 AM UTC  Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson (R), and his running mate Bill Weld (L), talk to the press before a rally on August 6, 2016 in Salt Lake City, Utah. Libertarian presidential candidate Gary Johnson (R), and his running mate Bill Weld (L), talk to the press before a rally on August 6, 2016 in Salt Lake City, Utah. George Frey—Getty Images by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Oct 5, 2016 12:46 AM UTC The [Libertarian nominee for vice president](https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2016/10/04/bill-weld-says-will-use-libertarian-vice-presidential-platform-focus-fire-donald-trump/NQcxRVjXXeIY2mfhVXvyKP/story.html) says he will shift his focus this election season to preventing Donald Trump from winning the White House, rather than helping his running mate Gary Johnson get elected. [Bill Weld](http://time.com/4513636/gary-johnson-world-leader/), who formerly served as a Republican Governor of Massachusetts, still supports his running mate but says he is now primarily concerned with keeping Trump out of office. “I have had in mind all along trying to get the Donald into third place, and with some tugging and hauling, we might get there,” Weld told the Boston _Globe_. He has meanwhile called Clinton, whom he worked with as a lawyer in the 1970s, more qualified than anyone to serve as president. Some of Weld’s supporters say the Libertarian ticket would be stronger if Weld himself were nominated for president and Johnson for VP—especially after Johnson has had [major foreign policy stumbles](http://time.com/4483682/presidential-candidate-gary-johnson-asks-and-what-is-aleppo/) in recent weeks. Weld plans to tweet about the Vice Presidential debate between Tim Kaine and Mike Pence as he watches on Tuesday night. \[[_Boston Globe_](https://www.bostonglobe.com/news/politics/2016/10/04/bill-weld-says-will-use-libertarian-vice-presidential-platform-focus-fire-donald-trump/NQcxRVjXXeIY2mfhVXvyKP/story.html)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4518881/bill-weld-libertarian-donald-trump/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4518881/bill-weld-libertarian-donald-trump/"},"headline":"Libertarian VP Nominee Bill Weld Says He Will Focus His Efforts on Blocking Donald Trump","datePublished":"2016-10-05T00:46:47.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:45:32.074Z","description":"Weld wants to put Trump in third place—or at least make sure Clinton wins","url":"https://time.com/4518881/bill-weld-libertarian-donald-trump/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5bdb006c50bac00a/6988a8ac2dce01b1559eae52/bill-weld.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5bdb006c50bac00a/6988a8ac2dce01b1559eae52/bill-weld.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Libertarian Presidential Candidate Speaks At University Of Utah In Salt Lake City","caption":"Libertarian Presidential Candidate Speaks At University Of Utah In Salt Lake City","creditText":"George Frey—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4518881/bill-weld-libertarian-donald-trump/","name":"Libertarian VP Nominee Bill Weld Says He Will Focus His Efforts on Blocking Donald Trump"}}]}] ```