GOP lawmaker appears in Gary Johnson ad

Rep. Scott Rigell (R-Va.) urges voters to shun Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump in a new ad for Libertarian presidential nominee Gary Johnson.

“I’m a lifelong Republican, but I’m not voting for Donald Trump and I’m certainly not voting for Hillary Clinton,” Rigell says in the online video released Friday.

{mosads}“I don’t trust the Republican nominee, Donald Trump, and I don’t trust the Democratic nominee, Hillary Clinton,” adds Rigell, a retiring three-term lawmaker.

“I do trust — not only with my future, but my children’s and grandchildren’s future — Gov. Gary Johnson to lead our great country.”

Rigell, who remains Johnson’s only supporter in Congress after endorsing him in August, argued the former Republican’s two terms as governor of New Mexico offer proof Johnson would practice bipartisan cooperation and limited government as president.

“Gary Johnson is the real deal,” Rigell said. “Gary Johnson is a proven leader. And as a Republican governor in a Democratic-leaning state, he was reelected because he got the job done.

“He led his state, and he actually reduced the size of government. That’s important to me as a fiscal conservative Republican.”

Rigell said voters should not automatically vote Democratic or Republican on Nov. 8.

“We don’t have to live this way,” he said. “We don’t have to govern ourselves this way as Americans. We can change things. We can change the system.

“The two national parties have given us two candidates that are deeply flawed, and, I believe, not qualified, in judgment and temperament and in character, to hold our nation’s highest elective office,” Rigell added.

“But we don’t have two choices. We have a third choice, a better choice. And I believe that something different, that something better, is voting for Gary Johnson.”

The Libertarian ticket of Johnson and running mate Bill Weld hovers around 6 percent nationwide in the latest RealClearPolitics polling index.

Clinton leads Trump by 6 points nationally in a matchup that includes third-party candidates, according to the polling index.