Lincoln Chafee, the former Republican senator, independent governor, and failed Democratic presidential candidate, is now a registered Libertarian.
“I bought property in Wyoming and registered to vote out there in my fourth party — I’m a Libertarian,” Chafee said Tuesday. “It’s what I’ve always been — fiscally conservative and socially liberal.”
“They are against capital punishment, pro-choice, against war, strongly for the Fourth Amendment, no torture,” Chafee elaborated. “All these things that American has gotten away from.”
Chafee changed his party affiliation after moving to Wyoming from Rhode Island.
“I like the wide open spaces,” he said. “I’m not disparaging Rhode Island. It’s a beautiful state. But it’s a new adventure.”
Chafee’s latest party change after he mounted an unsuccessful bid against Hillary Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2016. During his campaign, he emphasized switching the U.S. to the metric system saying it was something “we should aspire to.”
Chafee is the son of former Rhode Island Sen. John H. Chafee, who died in 1999.
