Meet the Messianic Jew running for vice president in the US elections

Jeremy "Spike" Cohen is running on a ticket with Libertarian Party candidate Dr. Jo Jorgensen.

Spike Cohen, vice presidential nominee from the independent Libertarian Party. (photo credit: FLICKR)
Spike Cohen, vice presidential nominee from the independent Libertarian Party.
(photo credit: FLICKR)
The Libertarian Party’s 2020 vice-presidential nominee is a Jewish man named Jeremy “Spike” Cohen.  He is running on a ticket with Dr. Jo Jorgensen.
The party's website describes Cohen as promoting "a vision of common-sense Libertarian solutions that will make us all more free, safe, and prosperous."
He is not the first Jewish VP candidate - or even the first running for the Libertarian Party. The first Jewish candidate to receive an electoral vote for vice president was Tonie Nathan in 1972.
Since then, the only other Jewish candidate to run for VP was Joe Lieberman, who ran on the Democratic ticket back in 2000.
Cohen, 38, has been a controversial figure. In 2019, amid a series of antisemitic attacks, he tweeted that the police and politicians are worthless at protecting people, especially the Jews and other minorities and he encouraged people to take up arms to protect themselves.

Cohen considers himself a Messianic Jew - a Jew that believes in Jesus. 
In an interview with Blake Fox earlier this year, Cohen said, "I should note two things that may disqualify me as Jewish to many of your readers: I was raised as a Messianic Jew, and my mother is a Gentile.
"I am a Cohen, which is passed patrilineally, and had a Jewish upbringing, kept Shabbat and all the holidays and days of remembrance, proudly proclaimed my Jewish identity in the deep South my whole life, and continue to do so today. Still, to the standards of many Jews, they would not consider me Jewish," he continued. "I did have a bar mitzvah, and attended a Hebrew preschool."
He told Fox that Judaism has had a "big impact" on his political identity. He said he is influenced by Maimonides and Hillel and that the Jews that helped shape his political beliefs are Walter Block, Murray Bookchin, Emma Goldman and Murray Rothbard.

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What else does the Libertarian VP candidate stand for? 
The Jorgensen website explains that Cohen owned a web design company before retiring to promote his libertarian ideals. He hosts and co-hosts a number of podcasts through which it says he interacts with "countless people across the political spectrum. This experience has convinced him more than ever that the Democrats and Republicans have both failed us."
Cohen believes that Jorgensen can beat Trump and Biden and "hopes to work with her to end wars, free the innocent and end the infringements that impede voluntary problem-solving."