Gary Johnson has climbed each one of the world’s Seven Summits, (including Mt. Everest) but none of them warrant the same kind of stamina required to trudge uphill during this year’s presidential election.

Johnson is the presidential nominee for the Libertarian Party, which, in case you’re unfamiliar, advocates a platform that promotes individual rights and limited government. He’s running for president against Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump, and Jill Stein. As the former governor of New Mexico, and a previous presidential libertarian candidate, Johnson has been an active participant in politics for over two decades.

However, his background didn’t always lead him on the path to running for president.

Johnson grew up in the upper middle class neighborhood of Minot, North Dakota, with two younger siblings, his father, a teacher, and his mother, who worked with the Bureau of Indian Affairs. After graduating with a degree in political science from University of New Mexico, Johnson began working as a door-to-door handyman.

His success doing handiwork encouraged his decision to open up his own business known as Big J Enterprises, which he expanded into a multi-million dollar corporation with over 1,000 employees. When he sold the business in 1999, it was one of the largest construction companies in New Mexico.

It was after his business ventures that he took a turn into the world of politics.

In 1994, Johnson decided to run for governor of New Mexico. He won and went on to serve a second term. Again his success on a smaller scale pushed him forward and in 2009, he began to talk about running in the 2012 presidential election.

Initially Johnson was a part of the Republican Party in the 2012 election, but found his values as someone who identifies as “fiscally conservative, but socially liberal”  extremely conflicting to his Republican opponents, none of which identified as socially liberal.

Though Johnson only received 1% of votes in the 2012 election, he decided to run again this year, again within the Libertarian Party which aligns more accurately with his social views.

His current platform, through the Libertarian Party, urges the issues of environmental protection where he acknowledges climate change but doesn’t believe the government should be getting involved, a woman’s right to choose, internet freedom, (as in the access awarded to those who possess internet control), state and local governments involvement in education, and plans to make it easier for immigrants to live and work in the United States.

Just like majority of those in the public eye, Johnson had been both celebrated and humiliated.

His struggle to articulate during live interviews has particularly drawn the most negative attention.

Mike Barnicle asked Johnson on NBC’s Morning Joe what he would do if elected president about the city in Syria at the center of the refugee crisis, to which Johnson asked, “What is Aleppo?”

On a park bench, prior to the debates, he stuck his tongue out while speaking to an MSNBC reporter as an attempt to articulate that he could remain with his tongue clenched between his teeth throughout the entire first debate and still gain popularity over Trump and Clinton. Though he claimed it was “lighthearted”, it was not received well.

A few weeks later in an interview with MSNBC’s Chris Matthews, Johnson couldn’t name one world leader he admired, adding to the online scrutiny.  

Libertarian Town Hall: Gary Johnson Can't Name ONE World Leader: https://t.co/NVQ5da28pX via @YouTube

— Majority Report (@majorityfm) September 30, 2016

Regardless of his live screw-ups, Johnson has managed to rally an average of 7.3% of votes in the polls. It wasn’t enough to get him on stage at the first debates, but he did get on every ballot in the United States. This is a milestone for the Libertarian party, as no third-party candidate has qualified to be on the ballots in all 50 states since 1996.

So what is it about Johnson that, regardless of his public embarrassments, makes him so appealing?

Historically, third-party candidates have been important because of their ability to swing votes, but in this election where 65% of voters don’t feel that either major party represents them, Johnson serves as another feasible option, especially since his name will be on ballots across the country.   

Seventy percent of his backers are under 50, and over three fifths are political independents according to The New York Times. Johnson’s support for abortion rights and legalized marijuana appeals to many young people, and also differentiates him from his former position in the Republican party.

As election day quickly approaches it’s important to understand what the names on the ballot actually reflect and one thing is clear about Johnson, his first slogan when running for governor of New Mexico still reigns true, “People before Politics.”

Much of his popularity lies within Western states, but on Nov. 8 the we’ll see what other parts of the country favor this third-party candidate.