Top Republicans seek third presidential option

NEW YORK — Senior Republicans are searching for a third-party candidate to run in November’s general election as part of a final effort to prevent either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton becoming president.

Both figures are anathema to a swath of conservative officials, who say Mitt Romney, their 2012 nomination, is at the head of their list.

It is the latest extraordinary twist in a topsy-turvy election year. Highprofile Republicans, from former president George W. Bush to Paul Ryan, the party’s most senior elected official, are refusing to endorse their presumptive candidate.

Although third-party candidates face an uphill struggle, an independent candidate could attract enough support to prevent Trump or Clinton — who attract almost as much hostility as support — winning the 270 electoral college votes they need to become president. That would leave the decision in the hands of a Republican-controlled Congress.

Jeanne Zaino, a political scientist at Iona College in New York state, said she expected calls for a third-party candidate to intensify even though they would have little chance of winning, and would probably split the conservative vote.